Cotto-Margarito 24/7 episode 1 = A ton of complaining by Cotto

By Boxing News - 11/20/2011 - Comments

Image: Cotto-Margarito 24/7 episode 1 = A ton of complaining by CottoBy Dan Ambrose: I just finished watching Cotto-Margarito 24/7 episode 1 on HBO and I got to say WBO junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (36-2, 29 KO’s) sure does like to complain about his loss to the tough Mexican Antonio Margarito (38-7, 27 KO’s).

Cotto still thinks Margarito fought with loaded hand wraps in their previous fight three years ago in 2008, a fight Cotto lost after taking a couple of knees in the 11th round. Instead of taking responsibility for the loss by acknowledging that Margarito was the better conditioned fighter in that bout, Cotto instead thinks that Margarito fought with plaster in his hand wraps. The episode wasn’t a good thing for casual boxing fans to watch, as it really takes away from the excitement for this fight.

As it is, it’s difficult to get really excited about this fight given that Margarito is coming off of a lopsided 12 round decision loss to Manny Pacquiao a year ago last November, and has lost two out of his last three fights. And, besides that, Margarito is coming off of two surgeries on his right eye. Just those things alone make this a poorly planned fight. I want to see a rematch, but the timing for the rematch couldn’t be worse. And the complaining Cotto did all through the Cotto-Margarito 24/7 episode was more than a little off putting for me.

If I were a casual fan, I wouldn’t want to watch the fight after seeing this episode because it makes you question Margarito, and who wants to watch a fight like that? I, of course, think Margarito beat Cotto fair and square without loaded gloves. He was just the better man on that night. Cotto had already been exposed in previous fights for having conditioning problems, and by running around the ring all night long trying to escape Margarito’s constant pressure, it made things easier for Margarito to wear Cotto down and stop him in the later rounds.

Margarito said “It’s not that he’s winded, it’s the pressure put on him. Oh that Cotto, how he cries. Always full of excuses. I told Cotto, I never fought with anything. I don’t know what Cotto is afraid of. I told Cotto, ‘You wrap me. I’m going to beat you again.’ What’s he afraid of? Why does he cry so much? Why did he sign up for this fight? Maybe he doesn’t have a big heart. If he wants to take it personally, he can take it personally. I’m a clean fighter. There was nothing illegal. And that’s it.”

Cotto had this to say: “He used the plaster the night of the fight…I’m a better fighter today compared to when I fought Margarito.”

I agree with Margarito. Cotto is complaining too much. If he thinks Margarito fought with loaded hand wraps, then he shouldn’t have agreed to fight him again. He didn’t have to do it. Cotto will never know whether Margarito did or didn’t use loaded hand wraps, and it’s silly to speculate when you can’t know. The only thing Cotto does know is he got beat in that fight. That’s just the way it is. If he had been in better condition on that night, I think he would have won. But Cotto was exhausted by the 10th round from his constant movement and when he did finally stop for a moment on the ropes, that’s when Margarito got him.

If Cotto wants to win this fight, he’s going to have to conserve his energy because I doubt Cotto’s conditioning has gotten any better in the past three years. He’s 31 now, and fighters typically don’t get better in terms of conditioning as they age. At 28, that was probably Cotto at his best when he lost to Margarito. The only changes I can see since then is Cotto is moving more and using his jab a lot. But he looked bad when he was taking pressure from 38-year-old Ricardo Mayorga in his last fight last March. Mayorga isn’t the same fighter he once was, but he gave Cotto a lot of problems in the early part of the fight before tiring out.



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