Margarito Shakes up the Boxing World in One Night

By Rui Zheng

I was one of many people who picked Miguel Cotto to win a decision over Antonio Margarito on Saturday night.  It was a relatively easy prediction in my eyes.  I was aware that Margarito possessed a granite chin and a tremendous workrate.  I was aware that he completely trounced one of the hardest hitting welterweights in Kermit Cintron in their anticipated rematch.  And finally, I was aware that this was easily the biggest fight of Margarito’s career; an opportunity that he knew he had to fully take advantage of.  But I also took notice of the Mexican slugger’s flaws.  He has terrible footwork and he was exposed in this regard by Puerto Rico’s Daniel Santos.  He had relatively slow hands and threw wide, looping punches as opposed to the quick, compact shots of Cotto.  The bottom line was that Margarito could be outboxed through the utilization of effective lateral movement, fast hands, and a tight defense.

Miguel Cotto was already a consensus top 5 pound-for-pound fighter in the world.  He had shown both the ability to systematically break down an opponent as well as safely outbox a foe using his brilliant jab.  Most predictions thought the fight would either end via a Margaritio knockout or a Cotto decision, but the Puerto Rican’s sheer superiority in skill had many leaning towards Cotto.

The fight began with Cotto choosing immediately to counterpunch Margarito through the use of a variety of defensive slips and rolls while against the ropes or through giving angles.  Margarito’s failure to cut off the ring resulted in Cotto’s ability to seemingly land at will and still be able to escape the Mexican’s punching range.  Cotto clearly won Round 1 and Round 2 was more competitive, yet I still thought that Cotto’s punches were cleaner.  It was obvious that Cotto and his team prepared a gameplan that was set to expose Margarito’s footwork as through the first 6 rounds I had the fight 60-54 in favor of Miguel Cotto with rounds 2 and 4 being competitive.

In round 7, while Margarito trapped Cotto against the ropes, the Mexican unleashed an uppercut and right hand that appeared to have Cotto dazed.  For the first time all fight, someone was clearly hurt.  Rounds 7 and 8 were dominated by Margarito as he applied relentless pressure to Cotto.  One thing to take notice of is that Cotto’s peek-a-boo defense will always leave him susceptible to the uppercut and Margarito was set to exploit this weakness through the use of uppercuts in every combination.  Cotto recovered nicely in the 9th round and won it on my scorecard, however it had become apparent that his punches lacked the snap and crispness from the opening rounds.  Furthermore, Margarito was picking up steam while Cotto’s feet was slowing down ever so slightly and his once tight defense was starting to leak.  Cotto’s heart and abilities allowed him to outbox Margarito for the first 2 minutes and 50 seconds of round 10, however in the final seconds of the round, a combination from Margarito had Cotto reeling towards his corner and clinching on for dear life.

By the start of the 11th round, my scorecard read 97-93 Cotto.  In reality, two of the judges ringside had Margarito up 96-94 while the third judge had the fight even at 95-95.  At the time, the question was not if Cotto could mount a rally to grasp victory from the clutches of his opponent, but rather if Cotto could just simply survive the next 6 minutes and hope for a decision win.  Antonio Margarito did not plan on using the judges on that night as he showered Cotto with vicious left uppercuts until the champion was forced to take a knee.  Cotto’s remarkable recovery abilities proved no help as he willingly took another knee seconds following the first knockout.  A towel thrown in from the corner of Miguel Cotto only reinforced what so many people refused to believe on that night:  Miguel Cotto had finally lost.

Miguel Cotto lost much more than a WBA welterweight championship fight on Saturday night, though.  Gone were potential $15 million paydays against Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr.  Also his aura of invincibility was left in shatters.  Miguel Cotto is usually breaking the will of other opponents; now the hunter had become the hunted.  So what’s next for Cotto?  After a long rest in his native Puerto Rico, I would expect Cotto to make a return against a solid, but not spectacular fighter.  Perhaps a name like David Estrada or Richard Guttierez would suffice.  And as much as I would love to see a rematch at Madison Square Garden for 2009, another loss at the hands of Margarito could result in the end of Miguel Cotto’s career as an elite fighter.

What does Margarito’s win mean in the grand scheme of boxing?  Well don’t expect Floyd Mayweather Jr. to come out of retirement anytime soon.  Antonio Margarito is not a fighter that anyone would want to face when that person has one foot in boxing and the other foot out.  I would remain skeptical of a possible De La Hoya match, also.  Cotto has more skill, better footwork and lateral movement than Oscar minus the speculation about stamina, and Cotto just got ran over by Margarito. I can't see Oscar winning this fight. I think Oscar realizes this and I expect him to face Pacquiao for his farewell fight.

Now regarding Floyd, I've always had the impression that Mayweather viewed Miguel Cotto almost as if Cotto was like stock. As Cotto's popularity grew, so would Mayweather's legacy and bank account assuming if Floyd defeated Cotto if they ever fought.

Floyd is not stupid. He knows that beating an undefeated Miguel Cotto would basically cement his legacy as being one of the greatest fighters in history, but he wanted Cotto to build up his name a bit more so as to sweeten the pot financially. Mayweather probably expected Cotto to defeat Margarito and then De La Hoya before a welterweight superfight between the two undefeated welterweights would take place in 2009.

Well, Mayweather took a risk and it didn't pay off.  But as far as the welterweight division, here are my rankings for the division:

1.) Antonio Margarito
2.) Paul Williams
3.) Miguel Cotto
4.) Shane Mosley
5.) Carlos Quintana
6.) Joshua Clottey
7.) Zab Judah
8.) Andre Berto
9.) Kermit Cintron
10.) Jackson Bonsu