Miguel Cotto Vs Antonio Margarito II: BOXING JUSTICE?
By Geno McGahee
In 2008, Antonio Margarito finally got his shot. He had been avoided by Floyd Mayweather, JR., on several occasions and was rightfully considered “the most avoided fighter in the world.” He would face the undefeated Miguel Cotto in a pay per view showdown and he would beat the odds and batter the undefeated Puerto Rican superstar into submission in 11 rounds. It was a great moment for Margarito and displayed why boxing is such a great sport. Will was able to beat skill.
A few months later, Margarito would get another high profile match against Sugar Shane Mosley and that’s when the dark secret of his success was revealed. Margarito was using plaster of Paris in his hand wraps to get to this level. Without it, Mosley easily knocked him out.
The revelation shed light on the Cotto victory. It became quite obvious that Margarito loaded his gloves against him as well and the devastation that Cotto endured permanently hurt his career. He has never been the same and it can be linked to that night in 2008, and now the two will meet up again in December in a highly anticipated rematch.
Cotto, 36-2, 29 KO’s, rebounded from his defeat, but he is not the same fighter. He was battered by Manny Pacquiao in 2009, but rebounded to win the WBA Light Middleweight Title with a stoppage of Yuri Foreman, followed by a final round knockout of Ricardo Mayorga. Even though he defeated Mayorga, he did not look spectacular. He was gun shy and allowed too many incoming shots to land, which cost him dearly with Pacquiao. The Margarito beating is still lingering over his psyche.
The boxing world suspended Margarito, 38-7, 27 KO’s, after his cheating ways were exposed but the power of Bob Arum brought him back and placed him into a huge super showdown with Manny Pacquiao. Margarito was dominated. Now he is immediately launched into another big payday …and they say that cheaters never win!
Arum is selling the good guy vs. the villain. Margarito even sports the devilish beard and has a following that supports an “anything to win” approach. Cotto’s supporters want to see him avenge this defeat and turn the tables, battering the cheater into submission, which is what the first fight would have probably been had there been no plaster involved. Even though Margarito won’t be loading his gloves here, he has an edge going into this one nonetheless.
The memories that have haunted the career of Cotto will be in full effect and it will be difficult to overcome. The punches that land from Margarito will remind him of the bricks he was hit with in 2008, and the lack of confidence that Cotto now displays will hurt him here. Margarito, even without plaster, is an imposing guy and will try to immediately intimidate Cotto, and if he succeeds, he will get another stoppage win.
The hope is that Cotto will be mentally right and that the money that Margarito is bringing in will cease. He could have killed his opponents with the loaded gloves, but as long as it lined his pockets, he didn’t care, and sadly, Promoter Bob Arum doesn’t care either and was quick to bring back his Mexican bad boy. A fighter without the promotional push would have been banned for life.
On December 3rd, Cotto and Margarito will meet again, and you’ll have to decide if seeing the cheater punished is worth buying it. It’s tough to support an event that benefits somebody that has hurt the sport as much as he did.
