RingSide Report

World News, Social Issues, Politics, Entertainment and Sports

Miguel Cotto Vs Antonio Margarito & The Boxing Weekend

By Geno McGahee

This Saturday night, the rematch that probably shouldn’t be happening will occur when Miguel Cotto, 36-2, 29 KO’s, takes on Antonio Margarito, 38-7, 27 KO’s. Margarito is a proven cheater that used plaster of Paris in his hand wraps to batter his opposition. His trainer was used as a scapegoat to bring him back to the ring and line his pockets with these big PPV fights. Bob Arum, who once showed his disgust at Luis Resto and Panama Lewis for tampering with gloves, quickly came to the defense of his fighter, noting that there is obvious racism going on to keep him out of the ring. Don King gets called a scumbag a lot, but Arum isn’t too far behind.

In the first fight, Margarito battered Cotto with the literal bricks tied to his hands and the Puerto Rican star would succumb to the punishment in round 11. He hasn’t been the same since that beating, and would later lose to Manny Pacquiao via TKO in 12. Margarito also lost to Pacquiao recently, but that doesn’t stop Arum from setting up this fight.

HBO is behind the PPV coverage and has done the sit down face to face meeting where Cotto proves that there was something wrong with Margarito’s hand wraps, but he denied it. He will deny it infinitely and as long as there are people out there that are OK with somebody dying in the ring, he will have support. The fact that he is not banned for life is baffling…and you wonder why boxing is considered garbage by most.

Also this weekend, is the heavyweight championship defense of WBA Kingpin, Alexander Povetkin, 22-0, 15 KO’s, taking on the capable but not exceptional, Cedric Boswell, 35-1, 26 KO’s. Povetkin was awarded the title when the WBA decided that nobody can beat a Klitschko, so they will create another champion that isn’t as impressive. Wlad became their “super champion” and now the “regular champion” defends.

Povetkin is under the guidance of Teddy Atlas and has been gradually improving. He won the title over former champion, Ruslan Chagaev, in August, and will have his hands full on Saturday in Finland.

Boswell is 42 years old and has earned this crack. He has been fighting in obscurity over the past several years and is an unknown to most. His only defeat was a come from behind knockout loss at the hands of Jameel McCline in 2003. It was a fight that he was well ahead on the scorecards going into the final round but he ran out of gas and McCline sensed it and pounced. Since then, Boswell has put together 14 straight wins and he will bring a “do or die” approach to the ring. He has to. At 42, the show is close to over and he may not have the time rebound en route to another title shot before father time takes all of his reflexes away.

Povetkin is the favorite but Boswell should make it exciting.

Another fight on the card to watch is Robert Helenius, 16-0, 11 KO’s. He will be facing Dereck Chisora, 15-1, 9 KO’s, a man that disgraced himself against Tyson Fury in his last fight, coming into the ring at 261 pounds. Helenius appears to be the real deal. He has recently knocked out former champions Sam Peter and Sergei Liakhovich, and both were by explosive knockout. He looked like he killed Peter, and now Chisora, with something to prove will be going after the big man in hopes to catch him, but will be walking through a minefield to do so. Look for another big night for Helenius.

EPIX will be covering both fights as they attempt to get their hands on some boxing to compete with HBO.

Yet another fight on Saturday, on Showtime, will be Joseph Agbeko, 28-3, 22 KO’s, taking on Abner Mares, 22-0-1, 13 KO’s, in a IBF bantamweight title match. This is a rematch between the two. In the last encounter, Mares eked by with a majority decision.

Leave a Reply