There was alot of controversy, revenge and payback coming into this rematch between Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto, the newly crowned WBA Junior Middweight Champion of the world. A championship belt he lost by taking a beating from Margarito two years ago. Which later became a controversy when Margarito got caught with loaded gloves just before his fight with Shane Mosley. And as expected, it fueled the speculation of whether he had loaded gloves when he fought previously against Cotto. And from the film of that fight, it sure did look like he had something in those gloves, but only Margarito knows. In previous interviews between Cotto and Margarito, Cotto had actual pictures of the mysterious hand wraps of Margarito, which showed evidence of tampering. Even with this pictured evidence, Margarito and his camp continued to deny any wrongdoing.
But in Saturday’s rematch, it was clear that Cotto was not getting hit by anything other than a glove. This time it was Margarito who was getting hit with loaded punches from Cotto and they were legal ones. In front of a large contingent of Puerto Rican (“Boricua”) fans from New York, Cotto started off in the first round connecting with crisp punches with both hands and very good movement as Margarito moved forward. Margarito tried to use his long jab and height advantage, but Cotto landed the better combinations.
In the second round, Cotto caught Margarito with a huge big right and as the round progressed, he caught him with another big right. Margarito again continued to move forward, but Cotto landed the best punches. Just before the beginning of the third round Margarito’s right eye, which he had several operations on before this fight, was already starting to close. Most of the damage to his right eye was from a pounding he had taken in his fight with the pound for pound king of the ring, Manny “Pacman” Paquiao back in 2009. Despite that, Margarito, the aggressor, started to pick up the tempo. He appeared to land just as many punches as Cotto and the round could have been called even.
In the fourth round Margarito continued to put the pressure on with his style of always moving forward, despite getting hit by punches by Cotto. Cotto at this point seemed to become defensive and settled for counter punching. Margarito appeared to have won this round. As the fifth round began, Margarito seemed to have the momentum as he used his jab and his straight right to connect punches on the defensive Cotto. Cotto then connected with a huge good left to the already closing eye of Margarito. He then followed up with the same punch at the end of the round, but it was not enough to win the round.
The sixth round was more of the same as Margarito kept moving forward and Cotto moved backward and around the ring. It seemed as if though he was saving his energy for the latter rounds, but in the eyes of the fans, it looked like he was getting pushed around the ring. And in the eyes of the officials, going backward never looks good to try to make points. Margarito appeared to have won this round as well. In the corner, just before the seventh round, Margarito’s right eye was almost completely shut. Nevertheless, he continued to put the pressure on Cotto and appeared to have landed the most punches. Cotto still connected with several combinations, but it looked like he couldn’t or didn’t want to follow up with more punches. In this fight, he seemed to want to box more and not take any chances.
In the eighth round, Cotto’s corner must have told him to pick up the pace, and he did. In this round, he began to hold his ground and started landing good combinations to the head of Margarito, who at this time could hardly see. It seemed apparent that his corner and he himself knew that now was the time to take advantage of the one-eyed Margarito. It also seemed that he might have been using this time to get a little revenge and punish Margarito. As the round ended, which Cotto clearly won, the doctor went to the corner to look at the eye of Margarito. Although the eye was completely shut, he was allowed to fight on.
In the ninth round, a desperate Margarito came out attempting to land whatever he could on Cotto, but Cotto continued to land with both hands. Cotto must have knew that the end was coming for Margarito and he landed combinations and solid punches with his left hand. He used his coaches strategy of circling his opponent and staying off the ropes and then attacking at the right moment to the eye of Margarito.
Just before the tenth round, the doctors began to look at the closed eyed of the battered Margarito and confusion arose. It took more than the usual time for the doctor to make a decision and just as it appeared that the fight might go on, the fight was stopped. Pandemonium erupted in the ring as the Puerto Rican fans celebrated the win of their favorite “Baricua,” Miguel Cotto. Just as the fight had ended, Cotto walked over to the corner of Margarito and just stared at him for a moment. A moment that Cotto said, “I just simply stood there to look at him. I simply stood there to taste the victory.”
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