Wayne McCullough says Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito's fight will be remembered forever.
Cotto-Margarito rematch is a must, says McCullough
Last weekend Puerto Rican sensation Miguel Cotto took on Mexican Antonio Margarito in a defence of his WBA welterweight belt.
This was expected to be a good fight, even possibly a candidate for Fight of the Year as both boxers always come looking for a KO.
Going into it they each had 26 KO's on their record with Cotto having a slightly higher average per fight.
Margarito, who picked up the IBF welterweight title by defeating Kermit Cintron in his most recent fight back in April was challenging Cotto for his WBA belt. He has never really been hurt in any of his fights even though he was on the canvas at the start of his career, but things have picked up for him lately!
Margarito has been professional seven years longer than Cotto, beginning his career as a lightweight at 15 years old. Naturally the bigger guy at 5' 11, Margarito has the height advantage over Cotto who stands at 5' 7".
Coming off his KO win over
Contender star Alfonso Gomez, Cotto has been hurt and also been on the deck, when he has fought at light-welterweight possibly due to a struggle making weight. But he's up in weight now since December 2006 and has shown more power and a better chin.
The question leading up to this fight was whether or not it was going to be exciting. Would it go the distance? Two big punchers, two champions - anything could happen.
Forever
This fight turned out to be more than just a good fight. It was one that will be remembered forever as both fighters fought hard ,delivering an all-time great bout.
In the first half of the fight Cotto was in complete control, moving well and landing clean right and lefts uppercuts to Margarito's head.
The Mexican continued to pressure throwing hard body shots that Cotto took well as he waited for his second wind to kick in during the second half of the fight. He also caught on to Cotto moving to his left and started to land short right hooks to his opponent's head.
From the seventh round on, Margarito stepped it up a gear and hurt Cotto with hard shots. He had the Puerto Rican badly hurt in the 7th and 11th rounds with left hooks. Cotto was beginning to slow too as the early body punches began to take their toll.
In the 11th round Margarito landed left and right uppercuts of his own putting Cotto down. He got to his feet with his face busted up, his eye cut and blood splattered all over his face. He was exhausted and retreated again from the onslaught of Margarito. Cotto fell to his knees as his corner threw in the towel at 2:05 of round number 11.
Margarito had come from behind to win and was up 96-94 on two cards and the other scorecard was drawn at 95-95. Going into what was the final round of the fight, neither fighter was showing much skill but they showed plenty of guts and, in Margarito's case, incredible stamina.
Cotto and Margarito are what boxing is all about. They proved how tough the sport is and their faces showed many battle scars.
There
has to be a rematch. This fight was a big draw and the second one would be even bigger.
Up to this point of 2008, this is definitely my pick for Fight of the Year.
