Miguel Cotto's statements regarding beating Antonio Margarito was vindicated with his win on December 3rd by Technical Knockout. I am a Miguel Cotto fan. Based on the controversial nature and the beating in the first fight against Margarito, I wanted Cotto to win and by knockout. Typically, I will score a fight, but I chose to simply enjoy and look at the fight from a different perspective.
More than anything I was intrigued by the tension and psychological battle that made up the climactic drama that occurred prior to this fight. The HBO special 24/7 featuring Cotto and Margarito and the interview between both fighters with Max Kellerman clearly showed the existing animosity between the two fighters. Cotto accepted the loss, but accused Margarito of cheating which is consistent with the decision by the California Athletic Commission to suspend Margarito's boxing license for 1 year. Margarito denied foul play and told Cotto that he will beat him in the next fight.
For those of you who do not know, Margarito won the first fight against Miguel Cotto. After beating Margarito for 7-8 rounds, Cotto began to wear down quickly and had to take a knee to take a break from the beating that he was receiving from Margarito. The fight was stopped after Cotto's corner threw in the towel and Cotto went directly to the hospital immediately after leaving the ring.
An illegal hand wrap was discovered prior to Margarito's next fight against Sugar Shane Mosley, which brought up great suspicion about Margarito's fight against Cotto. During the Max Kellerman interview with both fighters on HBO's 24/7, Cotto referred to a picture on an iPad of a tear in the hand wraps that Margarito used in their fight. There was also red on the hand wraps that according to Margarito was from his own gloves, but Cotto pointed out that Margarito's wraps, which were replaced prior to the the Margarito / Mosley fight, also had a very similar red mark so ink seeping in the hand wraps during the fight was nullified.
Both Cotto and his wife took great offense to Margarito's actions. Cotto's wife stated that Margarito's played with Miguel's life so you can imagine how badly Cotto wanted to win this fight. Imagine the pressure of being in a hometown situation at Madison Square Garden, your wife in the audience and facing the man who previously gave you the beating of your life. Imagine having to get by the beating by the smaller, Manny Pacquiao and dealing with the loss of your father if imagining it is even possible.
Conversely, imagine Margarito's desire to set the record straight by beating Cotto with clean hand wraps. Margarito has a family of his own, the weight of Mexico on his shoulders and having to fight in Madison Square Garden, which is in the backyard of millions of Puerto Rican fans that support Cotto. Failure was not an option for either fighter, so I figured that this would be a great fight.
During the 24/7 interview, after Margarito said that he would die in the ring to win the fight, Cotto made an interesting comment. He said that Margarito's comment was foolish and that boxing was just his job. After that comment and considering his loss against Pacquiao, my thought was that Cotto appears to be soft. Perhaps this fight didn't mean as much to him as I thought.
I now realize that Cotto's comment was very meaningful and heartfelt. His response to Margarito's comment about dieing in the ring was literal. He was saying that boxing was simply his job and that dieing on the job was not as important as taking care of his family. While Margarito was posturing and battling psychologically, Cotto's intelligent and responsible reply downplayed Margarito's statement and was more substantive in that Cotto referred to his family as the motivating factor as opposed to fighting for the sake of fighting.
What did you think about Cotto vs Margarito II? As the rounds went on and Margarito seemed to have picked up steam, I wondered how the fight would have gone if Margarito's eye didn't swell shut. I believe that Cotto would have outboxed him for the first several rounds, but would Cotto have made it all the way through to the 12th round since he did not in his last two fights? What do you think?
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