By Glenn Wilson

One by one the excuses begin, "no one wants to see that fight", "who has he fought" or " no one knows who he is". The excuses are like bricks that eventually build up into a wall-a wall that would make a lesser man give up any hope of possibly getting a big name fighter in the ring with him. But this is not your run of the mill everyday fighter. This is a man whose patience has been tested time and time again. Welcome to the world of Antonio Margarito.

On February 18, in the Aladdin Casino in Las Vegas, Antonio Margarito (32-4, 23ko's) will square off against journeyman Manuel Gomez (28-10-2, 19 ko's) in defense of his WBO Welterweight title, while he is more than happy to defend his belt, it is not exactly the fight he had hoped would kick off 2006.

Margarito is a fighter's fighter. He gets in, does his job and moves on. However, the name opponents seem to have blacklisted Antonio. Few fighters of note, from 140 to 154, appear willing to face him. But who could blame them. Margarito is at 5'11, a tall, rangy fighter who has power in both hands. He methodically takes over a fight, slowly breaking down opponents with a steady barrage of hooks and straight right hands.

Margarito has struggled at times in his career, his Junior Middleweight title shot with veteran Daniel Santos was stopped due to cuts which led to a loss via technical decision. But he rebounded by literally boxing the ear off of tough Sebastian Lujan. His last fight was nearly a year ago when he took on rising star Kermit Cintron. Cintron came into the fight with a reputation as a devastating puncher, having stopped all but two of his previous opponents. It wasn't long before Cintron was out of his element. Margarito completely outfought and overpowered Cintron to the point that many wondered if Cintron could ever come back mentally.

And still Margarito hears the excuses. Various reports said that Floyd Mayweather offered Margarito a fight on April 8 but that Margarito's management, led by Sergio Diaz Jr. and Francisco Espinosa, rejected the fight. Margarito's team said no offer ever existed. Mayweather then contradicted himself by saying no offer was made because no one knew who Antonio Margarito was and no one would want to see the fight. The truth is that most people would like to see that fight and Mexico nation would turn out in force to support Margarito.

Now we hear that Oscar De La Hoya is set to fight on May 6, opting to fight the hard hitting, wild swinging Ricardo Mayorga for the WBC Junior Middleweight title. Instead of dropping back to 147 as previously announced perhaps Oscar felt it was more beneficial to fight a guy who had lost two of his last four fights and a guy who is not rated in the top ten by most of the boxing organizations.

While De La Hoya and Mayweather have enough clout to pick and choose who they fight, Margarito is still knocking on the door. Ever the sportsman, Antonio tries to be patient and hope that somewhere down the line his name will be mentioned along with Judah, Spinks , De La Hoya or Mayweather.

Other than Mayweather, the other aforementioned fighters have one thing in common, they have all shown signs of slipping in their previous fights. That makes Margarito even more of a risk and less likely to be at the top of anyone's wish list.

Big time fighters often hurt the sport we love by choosing quantity (money) over quality (deserving opponents), while fighters like Mayorga are constantly put in title fight situations, hard working worthy contenders like Antonio Margarito are left out in the cold. Margarito deserves that shot and that big payday.

For a fighter that quote, "no one wants to see", Margarito continues to build on his already impressive career. After failing in his first attempt to win the WBO Welterweight title he was able to come back to win the vacant title with a tenth round stoppage of Antonio Diaz in March of 2002. Since then he has defended his title five times, winning all five, four by knockout.

Margarito's biggest test to date was his second round knockout of Andrew "Six Heads " Lewis in February of 2003. Lewis was known for being a knockout artist and was thought to be a fighter that would give Antonio a good fight. That fight cemented Margarito's claim as one of top welterweights in the world but may have had a double edged sword affect on him, opponents saw his ability and slowly started looking for reasons to avoid fighting him.

And now three years, later Antonio is still waiting for his signature fight. The fight that puts him on the covers of Ring and KO magazines, the fight that lets America know what Mexico has known for years, that Antonio Margarito is one of the, if not the, best welterweights in the world. Until then he will keep plugging away, defending his WBO Welterweight title against the Manuel Gomez's of the world.