Arum wants the Cotto-Foreman winner to fight Margarito

By Boxing News - 05/28/2010 - Comments

Image: Arum wants the Cotto-Foreman winner to fight MargaritoBy Dan Ambrose: If Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is able to put together the fight between his fighter Manny Pacquiao against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in November, then Arum would like for the June 5th winner between his two Top Rank fighters Miguel Cotto vs. WBA junior middleweight champion Yuri Foreman to fight yet another one of his Top Rank fighters Antonio Margarito next. It’s a win-win situation for the 78-year-old Arum if he can get these fights taken care of because the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight will likely be the biggest in boxing history with the biggest paydays for those involved.

The one question that may get in the way of realizing Arum’s vision is if Cotto refuses to go along with the program and fight Margarito should be get by Foreman in their fight at Yankee Stadium on June 5th. That would really mess things up for Arum, because he would like nothing better than to have Cotto facing Margarito at the Cowboy Stadium, in Arlington, Texas.

For a fight like that, it could sell as many as 50,000 tickets because of Margarito’s popularity with the Mexican community. However, Cotto has said previously that he never wants to fight Margarito again after losing to him by an 11th round TKO in July 2008. After a plaster-like substance was found on Margarito’s gloves before his bout against Shane Mosley last year in January, Cotto has become suspicious of Margarito and has said he doesn’t want him to make money off of him.

If Arum is going to put the Cotto-Margarito rematch together, he’s going to have to do a lot of convincing for Cotto, because this is a fight that Cotto may not want. To be sure, a Cotto-Margarito fight would be a popular one, but Arum might be better off keeping Cotto happy by looking in another direction. Arum should try and get Pacquiao to fight one last time against Cotto rather than trying to get Cotto to take a fight against Margarito that he really doesn’t want.

Cotto fought well against Margarito for nine rounds, but in the 10th round Cotto was badly hurt after getting nailed by a big uppercut near the end of the round while trapped on the ropes. Margarito then went out and finished Cotto off in the 11th, causing him to take a knee twice before the fight was eventually stopped. Cotto’s face was a bloody mess from cuts over both eyes and a broken nose. He looked ghastly, like he had been run over by a truck. With the punishment alone that he took in that fight, I don’t blame Cotto for not wanting to fight Margarito again.



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