By Aaron Klein: After watching last night’s 11th round TKO win for Antonio Margarito (37-5, 27 KOs) over WBA welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (32-1, 26 KOs) at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada, I’m thinking that an immediate rematch is needed to allow for Cotto to avenge his defeat. While I concede that Margarito did a good job of breaking down Cotto slowly over the course of the fight to eventually stop him, I doubt think the best man won on Saturday night. I mean, Cotto seemed to give away the fight more than it being a case of him being beaten by Margarito, who was being outclassed for most of the fight until the 10th round when he hurt Cotto in the last 10 seconds of the round with a series of hooks to the head.
Instead of clinching Margarito often, like most good fighters like Wladimir Klitschko and Bernard Hopkins do to slow down aggressive fighters, Cotto instead elected to run and trade punches with Margarito. The running was less dangerous for him, to be sure, but it had the effect of wearing Cotto down much earlier than he would have been if he had just elected to clinch like most fighters would if put in a similar circumstance. The thing of it is, I knew Cotto wouldn’t clinch, and I bet Margarito knew it as well from having viewed most of Cotto’s fights, because he seems to really dislike being clinched, treating fighters that do that with bitter disdain.
I have no doubts what so ever, that Cotto could easily beat Margarito in a rematch if Cotto was able to clinch him often after throwing flurries. Obviously, Cotto had only two plans going into his bout with Margarito, starting with his trying to throw fast flurries to score points. This worked well, but it didn’t stop Margarito from coming forward and landing his own shots to the body and head. When this didn’t work, Cotto attempted to run from him, using a lot of lateral and backward motion to fight on the move. That was a bit more successful. However, it also took a lot of energy out of Cotto, as he wasn’t ready to run for the entire 12 rounds, and when he did stop to take a breather at the end of the 10th round, Margarito hurt him with a big left hook followed by a flurry of punches to the head.
Again, Cotto failed to clinch Margarito and ended up letting him hit him with a string of unanswered punches. The same goes for the 11th round, when Cotto seemed to think that he could run out the clock in the round, but it didn’t work. Margarito immediately closed the distance and tagged him with a right and then a left-right combination that sent Cotto down to one knee. After he got up, his face was bloody masque of blood, his nose looking badly broken and his eyes cut to the point he probably could see almost nothing but red. Margarito merely sprinted after him like a runaway freight train.
Seeing Margarito coming at him at full speed, Cotto did the safe thing and took a knee to protect himself - and his future - from sustaining any more punishment. After the fight was stopped, Cotto showed pure class by congratulating Margarito for his victory and showing that there were no hard feelings. The fight, however, proved nothing other than that Margarito can beat Cotto when he’s fighting his kind of fight.
However, if Cotto had fought with his brain instead of his heart, we probably would have seen him win by an easy 12-round decision, likely winning every round. I think Margarito only has one option - which is to fight Cotto in an immediate rematch. Let’s face it, there’s no other opponents out there that will being in the crowds and excitement that Cotto can bring in, and the boxing public badly wants to see a rematch after witnessing how exciting this fight was.
July 28th, 2008 at 12:38 am
Hey Aaron Klein,
You are right a rematch would be great!! Cotto is a true champ, a class act. Margarito pushed the pace and showed to be the relentless warrior , as a boxer should. To insinuate that Cotto should have clinched more is not okay! Stick to writing, not boxing tips to the elite boxers. Fans want to see great strategies and boxing skills which make fights. A boxer that needs to clinch more than what was clinched in this fight would not be good for boxing. Both fighter made it out okay, good enough to fight another day! If any boxer needs to clinch more than in this fight, they never should be in the ring with their opponent to begin with. Give Margarito his time in the spotlight, I guess Mayweather does not know how to clinch, or otherwise he would have fought Margarito right. Margarito the new top Pound for Pound best!
July 28th, 2008 at 1:40 am
I am really impressed with the fight, Margarito was the best, I really recognize that Cotto is such a great fighter but he is the kind of fighter that puches and then runs, which is a great strategy, unfortunately not with Margarito, now, for you Aaron to say that if Cotto was able to clinched more he would’ve been the winner that means you know nothing about box, cause if running got him hurt imagine him clinching a lot more, I guess he wouldn’t have stand even 5 rounds, as much as a good fighter he is, keep it mind that Margarito is such a great fighter that all top names always were not giving him the chance, I guess cause they know that he has a real puch that wears you over the rounds. Kepp writing, but try to make sense and give credit to Margarito, don’t be a hater.
July 28th, 2008 at 4:44 am
Hi people…. I stayed up to watch this fight and it would have taken the end of the world to stop me from watching it… it was everything I hoped it will be and even more. I knew Margarito would win but i didnt think Cotto would last to the 11th round. I predicted round 7!! A rematch would end Cotto’s career - no fighter gets beat up like that and remains the same and doing it a second time would be silly. I feel for Cotto but I’d always known that he was not the full pound (apologies to Cotto fans out there). He should have lost against Judah had Judah had a bit more desire, focus and heart. Next stop - Margarito v De la Hoya (give the golden boy some beat down burger!)
July 28th, 2008 at 5:29 am
yes rematch but get cotto a new trainer mayweather sr emmaul or freddie when i saw the countdown to the fight it said that cottos tariner only watched over him and i noticed that when the fight began after the 6 when cotto got hurt all his corner said is your be ok or your fine no advice so in the mean time have pacman fight margerito pacman would kill him
July 28th, 2008 at 7:42 am
Cotto’s a great fighter, but he could fight Margarito 10 times and the outcome would be the same. He simply doesn’t have the power to even briefly stop Margarito in his tracks.
Lets just hope that Margarito gets to avenge his loss to Williams as i think he is the no.1 welter weight and just had a bit of an off night first time around.
July 29th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
sdfsafsav
July 29th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
he said that he doesn’t think the best fighter won,what are u talking about?were we even watching the same fight?margarito didn’t even show a sign of weakness through all the rounds and cotto was running around the ring almost through the entire fight.margarito ripped hes ass apart period.they can have 5,10 other matches and the outcome would be the same,u just traying to take away from margarito cuz clearly u a cotto fan,but can no one take that ass whooping away from cotto.so recognize.
August 1st, 2008 at 1:37 am
look if cotto gets the rematch and he should ask for the rematch all cotto has to do is work work on his conditioning.all cotto has to do is looks for that uppercut witch margarito have and the only thing he have’s then he really beat his ass might not knock him out but will get the decision.marg should really think of moving up is you people think his that good what’s the purpose if his only calling out your golden boy.cotto is still the best in the walter weight.
August 2nd, 2008 at 9:40 am
After that beating, Cotto will never be the same fighter. Cotto couldn’t beat Margarito even if he had a tire iron. Yes, Cotto is very much over-rated.
August 4th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Cotto could only beat Tony if he tied him up between flurries. He was hitting Tony with flush shots to no avail… Although Cotto seemed to get off combinations at will, I think he knew that he could not hurt him. That put him in a position that he has never been in.
August 9th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
cotto going to knock him out next fight
August 10th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
It is clear that Cotto does not have the ability to knock out the bigger stronger Anthony Margarito…Cotto was landing flush shots and Tony was walking through them.
Cotto easily out boxed him, he should stick to his game plan and not over engage…
August 17th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Rematch? Did any of you see this demolition? Give Mosley a rematch…Mosley clearly out boxed cotto.
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:51 am
this guy is clearly a COTTO fan!
lol
TOO Bad man your Boy got beat!
i dont know what fight u watched but i saw cotto get massacred he won the first 5 rounds but he also took a hell of a beating in doing so… and after the 6th round it was all Margarito!!! so a re-match would end Cottos Career!!! i like cotto and taking a fight with Margarito was a bad idea, there is a reason why he is avoided by the elite fighters!! this guy is a monster! i say this fight was a walk in the park for margarito he made it look easy.. tony just walked .. or should i say jogged him down. TKO in the 11th!!
the victory was clear! no need for a rematch.