Cotto vs. Margarito III possible for May or June 2012

By Boxing News - 12/23/2011 - Comments

Image: Cotto vs. Margarito III possible for May or June 2012By Dan Ambrose: A third fight between Antonio Margarito (38-8, 27 KO’s) and WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (37-2, 30 KO’s) is being looked at for May or June of 2012, according to an interview by Margarito at fightnews.com.

Margarito lost to Cotto by a 10 round doctor’s stoppage earlier this month on December 3rd in a fight where Margarito was starting to take over at the time of the stoppage. However, in between rounds the ringside doctor halted the fight due to Margarito’s right eye swelling to the point where it almost closed. It still wasn’t closed, as Margarito could see the fingers that the doctor held in front of his eye to test his vision after the 9th.

Margarito says that Cotto isn’t satisfied with the way the fight ended, which really prevented Cotto from either winning by a legitimate – non medical – stoppage or by a decision.

It also kept Margarito from grinding down Cotto in the last three rounds to get another knockout win like he did in their first fight. Cotto took some big shots in the 9th round and appeared to be hurt early when he got hit with a big left hook from Margarito.

Cotto was forced to run after getting hit with that big shot, but Margarito was catching up to him and landing massive shots throughout the remaining portion of the round. After the fight, Cotto’s face looked red and swollen from Margarito’s hard punches.

Had the fight gone another two rounds, we may have seen Cotto’s face cut up in a similar way that it was cut in their first fight. Cotto doesn’t fight well when he’s cut and seems to go into the panic mode when he sees his own blood dripping down his face.

We would have seen the fight change immediately once Cotto was bleeding.
I think a rematch between Cotto and Margarito is necessary to clear up the controversy surrounding their New York rematch. However, the third fight can’t take place in New York because Margarito needs to a nice neutral venue where he can feel confident that the fight won’t be quickly halted if his right eye starts swelling again.

I personally think the doctor’s stoppage saved Cotto from getting knocked out. I’m sure the doctor didn’t intend it to pan out like that but that’s what I think ultimately happened by the fight being halted when Margarito was turning it around and taking the fight to the tired Cotto. I think the doctor’s move saved Cotto from another bad beating and possibly him dropping to his knees again to keep from taking punishment.



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