AMERICA AT LARGE: Even though the Pacquiao-Margarito fight is fraught with moral ambiguity, odds are that, in the end, I'll be there, writes GEORGE KIMBALL

LIKE A lot of other people, including, apparently, Manny Pacquiao, I have some serious reservations about whether the world’s best practising boxer should be fighting Antonio Margarito at all, but that’s not why I elected to give yesterday’s dog-and-pony show a skip.

The event at Chelsea Piers on Manhattan’s west side represented the middle instalment on Bob Arum’s three-stop mini-tour hyping a November bout between the Filipino congressman and a disgraced Mexican former champion who had, until a week ago, been banned from boxing throughout the US.

Even though the Pacquiao-Margarito fight is fraught with moral ambiguity, odds are that, in the end, I’ll be there. On the other hand, yesterday’s event, while advertised as a “news conference”, was in actuality one of those open-to-the-public shows that are, by definition, useless to the press.

Rather than serve as a prop in these exercises, I’ve decided to make it a point to avoid them when possible. You want to get thousands of screaming fans for the TV cameras, fine. Just don’t insult me by pretending it’s a “news conference”.

For the better part of a year now a fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr has loomed as the sport’s dream match-up. Originally contemplated for last March, the first attempt to stage the bout foundered on Mayweather’s attempt to set the agenda. A lot of people who should have known better bought into Money Boy’s contention that drug-testing procedures were the sticking point. In any case, the bout fell apart, Ghanaian Joshua Clottey stepped in as the replacement opponent, and Pacquiao routed him in a points decision before more than 50,000 eyewitnesses in Texas Stadium.

When attempts were made to revive the Pacquiao-Mayweather megabout for November, the drug-testing issue wasn’t even a factor. It became clear to even his most shameless apologists among the Fourth Estate that Mayweather simply didn’t want the fight.

But Arum had already made arrangements for a pay-per-view transmission on November 13th, and since he already had both Pacquiao and Margarito under contract, negotiations promised to be notably uncomplicated.

There remained the problem of Margarito’s suspension. On the evening of January 24th, 2009, Margarito was about to enter the ring against veteran Shane Mosley for a WBA light-middleweight title fight in Los Angeles. Thanks to the vigilance of Mosley trainer Nazim Richardson, Margarito’s gloves were re-inspected, at which point it was discovered that his hand wraps illegally concealed a layer of plaster of Paris that might have turned his fists into a pair of lethal weapons. The offending material was removed, and the bout went on as scheduled. Taking away Margarito’s loaded gloves had an effect not unlike giving Samson a haircut: Mosley beat him within an inch of his life on the way to a ninth-round stoppage.

A few weeks later the California Boxing Commission reviewed the evidence and suspended both Margarito and trainer Javier Capetillo. Margarito claimed the gloves had been doctored without his knowledge. The terms of the suspension provided that the matter could be reviewed a year later.

In the absence of forensic evidence, the California commission could not consider the issue of prior offences, but logic suggested that the Mosley fight may not have been the first time Margarito’s weaponry had been enhanced. Historically he had not been known as a knockout artist – only two of his first 12 professional opponents were stopped – but in his 30th year he suddenly became one.

Arum initially hoped to stage Pacquiao- Margarito in Las Vegas, but in July the Nevada Commission decided they would not license him while the California suspension remained in effect. On August 18th the California body determined that in the absence of any persuasive argument of contrition its suspension would remain in effect.

On August 25th Margarito applied for a boxing licence in Texas, a jurisdiction noted for bending the rules when its self-interest is involved. A week ago this morning the Texas authority approved the application.

That this was not unanticipated is evinced by the fact that within 24 hours Arum had confirmed the bout for Cowboys Stadium and announced the promotional tour that hit New York yesterday, and HBO announced its own plans for a “24/7” series showcasing the November 13th participants.

The network’s unhesitant cooperation is particularly noteworthy.

Earlier this year, HBO was the recipient of an Emmy award for having produced the best documentary of 2009, Eric Drath's Assault in the Ring, which detailed the unseemly tale of a fight between Luis Resto and the late Billy Collins 27 years ago. In the aftermath of that bout it was revealed trainer Carlos "Panama" Lewis had removed the padding from Resto's gloves, effectively turning them into a pair of bricks with which he thoroughly mugged the previously-unbeaten Collins. Lewis and Resto served jail time as a result, and were suspended for life. (This still put them one up on the unfortunate Collins, who never fought again and was dead within a year.)

While HBO seemed oblivious to the implicit irony, the only real difference between the Resto/Lewis case and that involving Margarito/Capetillo is that the former used the loaded gloves while the latter were apprehended before they got into the ring.

Last week, after Texas granted the licence to Margarito, I jokingly wrote a column for TheSweetScience.com suggesting that the Lone Star state was about to license Panama Lewis to work the Mexican’s corner in the Pacquiao fight – the logic being that while Resto (who in Drath’s documentary not only belatedly confessed to having known about the glove-tampering, but revealed Lewis had also placed plaster of Paris under his hand-wraps), like Capetillo, had admitted his complicity, Lewis had, like Margarito, so steadfastly lied about his involvement that, to be consistent, Texas ought to license Panama, too.

That it was a spoof eluded a shocking number of readers. Some expressed outrage; others applauded the notion.

In rendering its decision, the Texas commission had made it a point to note the absence of evidence directly implicating Margarito, and on Tuesday in Los Angeles Arum reiterated his contention that “Antonio Margarito did not know those illegal hand wraps were there, and there’s not one shred of proof that he did”.

Anyone who truly believes that can shell out $55 for the pay-per-view with a clear conscience. The rest of us, on the other hand, might bear in mind what Manny Pacquiao, in a moment of disarming candour, had to say on the subject: “Of course he knew.”

Tickets go on sale September 18th.