World Boxing Association welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (31-0, 25KOs) is reportedly interested in making a making a fight with former World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Antonio Margarito (35-5, 25 KOs) if the “money’s right,” according to the Endi,” a Spanish media news organization. Cotto had been previously saying that he wouldn’t fight Margarito because he had turned him down for a fight, instead fighting welterweight Paul Williams in July 2007, a bout that Margarito ended up losing by 12-round unanimous decision.
Cotto, it seems, wanted to pay Margarito back for not wanting to fight him. However, there’s been such a cry for Cotto to take on Margarito, it appears that his stance on the subject is now sofening, albeit as long as it means a substantial payday for Cotto. At this time, there aren’t a lot of other options for Cotto, mainly because the other top fighters in the welterweight division – Kermit Cintron, Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather, Paul Williams Ricky Hatton – already have fights scheduled, meaning that Cotto would either have to fight a lower level fighter, wait for one of those aforementioned fighters to become free, or fight Margarito, who happens to have an open slate for the next four months and a desire to fight Cotto.
Should Cotto take the option of waiting for Mayweather, De La Hoya, Williams, Cintron or Hatton, he could end up waiting for a considerable amount of time, which probably isn’t something that he’d like to do. Cotto would much prefer to face De La Hoya, Hatton or Mayweather, knowing that anyone of these bouts would bring him a huge amount of money with the least amount of work. In most of the cases, aside from Mayweather, Cotto would likely easily beat them.
However, it’s probably asking too much for such a fight to land in Cotto’s lap at this stage, as one of the fighters – probably Hatton – is going to be automatically knocked out of the running by being beaten by Mayweather on December 8th, which leaves only De La Hoya and Mayweather. Both of them are more likely to fight each other than to risk taking a serious bruising by fighting a pressure fighter like Cotto, regardless of the fact they’d make a substantial amount of money in the process. Against each other, they’d make more, so why bother?
Margarito has a tough style for Cotto to beat. Not only is Margarito a taller fighter, he also throws more punches per round – a lot more. This could create a nightmare situation for Cotto, as he’d have to either knock Margarito out or knock him down once or twice in order for him to have a hope of winning the bout. Margarito, though, has proven over and over to have a tough chin, and he’ll not likely be phased by Cotto’s punches. If anything, it will probably be the other way around. Kermit Cintron, arguably the hardest puncher in the welterweight division, couldn’t put a dent in Margarito’s chin, and was quickly dispatched in the 5th round. while getting knocked down several times in the process.
Cotto’s trainer has said, “For us to accept a fight with Margarito, there they have to be some very favorable conditions. Margarito is not an option at this time for economic reasons, but for a fight against him to be accepted, there they have to be some very good conditions.”