Pacquiao and Margarito promote their fight in the Dallas stadium

ARLINGTON – The biggest smile Manny Pacquiao popped at Friday's Cowboys Stadium news conference to hype his Nov. 13 bout against Antonio Margarito came when asked if he would know if someone illegally had wrapped his hands before slipping on his boxing gloves.

"Of course I would know just like Margarito knew," Pacquiao said. "I would feel it."

Margarito was caught with loaded gloves before he entered the ring for a January 2009 bout against Shane Mosley at Los Angeles' Staples Center. Plaster inserts were removed and he lost the fight. A month later, California suspended his boxing license for a minimum of one year.

When Margarito applied to the California athletic commission for re-instatement last month, he was rejected. As he did on fight night, he continued to deny he knew anything about the loaded gloves. He laid blame on his trainer, who was subsequently fired.

In the wake of the California denial, Margarito successfully applied for a license in Texas. That set up the bout against Pacquiao for the vacant WBC 154-pound title.

"If there is something in your hand, you feel it," echoed Freddie Roach, Pacquiao's trainer, who fought 53 times as lightweight before retiring as a boxer.

The Cowboys Stadium fight will be Margarito's second since he was suspended but first in the United States. He fought in Mexico in May.

Margarito preferred to look ahead rather than discuss the past saying, "I don't care what anybody says. This is the present now. Let's get ready to fight."

Briefly: The news conference on Cowboys Stadium concourse was open to the public, attracting a large contingent of supporters for Margarito, who is from Mexico. They chanted "Beat Pacquiao." It was the first time anyone in the Pacquiao camp could remember their popular Filippino fighter, considered to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, was not the crowd favorite in the United States. ... According to their contracts, neither boxer can be more than 150 pounds at the weigh-in on the day before the fight. That is a concession to Pacquiao, 31, who began fighting professionally at 108-pounds and will be trying for a title in his 8th weight class. Margarito, 32, has been fighting at 147 pounds and up since 1996. Pacquiao fought at 110 pounds that year. At 5-11, Margarito, a three-time champion at 147 pounds, towers over Pacquiao. He is listed at 5-6 ½ but looked smaller than many of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders on hand to escort the fighters to the news conference dais. Size obviously doesn't matter in Las Vegas where bookmakers like Pacquiao's speed and skills. He opened as a 6-to-1 favorite at the MGM Grand casino. Tickets for the fight, which is projected to draw a crowd of 70,000, have been scaled from $50 to $700.

Source: dallasnews.com