Antonio Margarito stopped Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas at 2:05 of the eleventh round in a incredible battle of attrition, to win the WBA Welterweight title. It was great fight. That may be an understatement.
Like a big cat, relentless in his pursuit of his next meal, uncompromising, hungry, unstoppable, unwavering, Antonio Margarito ate Miguel Cotto alive. Despite what Jim Lampley and Max Kellerman were saying, Cotto did not completely dominate the early rounds. It was give and take until the six round when Margarito found his range, his tempo and his will. It was an inevitable ending.
He didn’t just win the fight, he systematically broke down Cotto’s will. In the seventh round, I saw surrender in Cotto’s eyes, and where in the earlier rounds Cotto was punching with authority, from the seventh round on his punches were thrown with desperation. His will was gone, only his pride kept him up, and sadly even that would go in a few rounds.
No, Margarito didn’t just beat him, he took his manhood. Carrying all of Mexico on his back, he out manned him, out gunned him. In a epic battle of machismo, it was Antonio that was left standing. In the end Cotto surrendered meekly on his knees, a thoroughly beaten man. Sadly his wife and son were in the crowd and saw it unfold. No son should have to see his father lose in such a way.In much the same way the same way Julio Cesar Chavez broke down Meldrick Taylor (I don’t care what the scorecards were) and Edwin Rosario, Margarito wore down Cotto. He patiently stuck with his game plan and it paid off. Cotto had his moments in the fight, to be sure. He was countering much of what Antonio was throwing, but he just could not stop the forward momentum of Margarito, who has a chin that would have made Rocky Marciano proud. In the battle of the irresistible force against the immovable object, the object moved.
4 comments:
I really thought this would/should be runner-up as fight of the year to Israel Vazquez-Raphael Marquez;they fought a helluva third fight-and three times in a year.But beyond that,Margarito-Cotto has gotta be runner-up;if I were perfectly honest,it may be numero uno.
Randyman, I moved this from the weigh-in to here-----First of all, I was shocked at just how much bigger Margarito looked than Cotto. Even knowing that he was the natural at this weight. It just looked like a man against a boy to me. Cotto was forced to play a role in a fight that he was not used to, the matador. Margarito was relentless from the opening bell, plodding straight forward hitting anything he could on his smaller quicker opponent. Arms, gloves anything to just touch him in some way with his heavy hands. All the while Cotto was boxing, boxing, boxing. Not in the way that those flick and run guys do it, but more like a fighter, landing quick hard left hook right uppercut combinations. He would stand his ground briefly land the crisper punches then move away. Cotto built up an early comfortable lead on my scorecard winning 5 of the first 6 rounds. But, as I watched the matador pepper the bull with combos lateral movement morphed into retreating. Cotto hit Margarito with everything in his arsenal, but it became clear to me that he just couldn't hurt him or even slow him down. I began to get that feeling of inevitability around the 8th round. Maybe it was the body work of Margarito or the lack of effect of Cottos punches on him, but , I could clearly see that Cotto was looking like the beat fighter. But, I knew Cotto was ahead in the fight and he was still winning most of the rounds on my scorecard. By the 10th round the momentum had clearly switched to the challenger and Cotto put in what looked like to me one last gutsy attempt to turn it around. Even though Cotto won the 10th on my scorecard with well timed flurries and combos,they had no physical effect on Margarito. And even though Margarito landed fewer less crisp punches in the round, they were taking a huge toll on the champion. Margarito was not going to be denied. By the time the 11th began Cotto who had been forced to hit and move throughout the entire fight was tired and disheartened. The uneasy inevitable feeling I got in the 8th round came to fruition and it was over. It was a very good fight, not one for the ages or even fight of the year in my book, but it was a good fight. Cotto will need to do some serious strength training if he wants to fight the bigger guys. And even though he was the crisper faster fighter, his power had zero effect on one tough heavy hitting new champion.>>>
P.S. To be a fight of the year candidate in my book I must believe that going down to the wire the outcome could go either way. This fight didn't meet that criteria. Margarito was never hurt or damaged in a way that could end it and even though Cotto, who did not have his manhood taken away in front of his family, fought the type of fight that gave him the only way he had to win it was obvious to me at least that he was clearly getting hurt by Margaritos heavy hands. Julio Cesar Chavez vs. Meldrick Taylor also came to my mind except that in that fight Taylor was clearly out-classing Chavez with handspeed and movement which was his natural style. But, he too was a beaten man and couldn't hold on for the last 4 seconds thanks to referee Richard "just show me the money" Steele. Cotto has a more aggressive natural style and he could not keep that hit and move stuff up forever. You no the saying...styles make fights, and the best fights are when both fighters fight their natural styles. Manny P. vs Morrales come to mind. So, fight of the year...no way.
Just discovered your blog, and I'm glad to have discovered it. Last night's Cotto-Margarito fight is definitely a contender for Fight of the Year! Some who came into the fight thinking Cotto was going to win can argue that it isn't the fight of the year because the outcome didn't go their way. The fight went as far as 11 rounds, a knockout, and was won by the underdog fighter (the odds were 8-5 in Cotto's side). For a good half or more of the event, the audience couldn't have predicted what the outcome would have been. Definitely worth the PPV or tickets.
I think just the opposite of ole happy here, If the fighter you wanted to win, especially if he's the underdog pulls it out, your view is tainted because your endophins are pumping and it becomes fight of the year. Every "great fight" in MY book that I have watched, it took both fighters to suck it up at some point overcome adversity. I guess we'll see in dec. or jan. what the ring mag. fight of the year is. I'll put my money on this fight not being top 3. Any takers? then again Ring Mag. did pick the Ali-Spinks fight one year lol. Oh yeah, I didnt pay crap to see this fight. I would rather wait a week and see it on HBO for free like all the other fights. Just so happens a couple different buddies invited me over.
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