Margarito Wears Cotto Down to 11th-Round TKO, Wins WBA Welterweight Title By Doug Fischer (July 27, 2008) Photo © German Villasenor Send this page to friend Give us your feedback LAS VEGAS, July 26 – Now we know why Floyd Mayweather Jr. rejected a guaranteed $8 million to face Antonio Margarito two years ago. The recently-retired former “linear” welterweight champ and recognized pound-for-pound king knew a tough fighter and a tough fight when he saw one. And Mayweather definitely saw one tough hombre when he sized up Margarito, who scored the biggest victory of his hard-road 15-year career by stopping previously undefeated Miguel Cotto in a brutal 11th-round stoppage tonight in front of 10,477 diehard fight fans inside the MGM Grand’s Garden Arena. Margarito, who won the WBA welterweight title (the third major 147-pound belt of his career) with the dramatic come-from behind victory, may look like an easy mark for quicker, mobile boxers, but the relentless nature, the non-stop punching, warrior’s heart and granite chin of “The Tijuana Tornado” makes him a very special fighter. Cotto, whose sterling record dropped to 32-1 (26), was able to exploit all of the flaws in Margarito’s defense and technique for six rounds – stifling the Mexican’s offense with constant lateral movement, a stiff jab, flush counter punches, and hard and accurate three-punch combinations – but he couldn’t take the big heart of his antagonist. And despite landing the kind of clean head and body shots that wore down the likes of Zab Judah and Carlos Quintana, Cotto could not seriously hurt Margarito. “He never really hurt me,” Margarito, now 37-5 (27), said after the fight. “Cotto is a strong fighter but slowly the tornado rumbled and I told my corner that the knockout would come and the knockout came.” For the first five rounds of the fight, it looked like Margarito was on his way to losing a lop-sided decision as Cotto showed his class by evading incoming punches along the ropes with head- and upper-body movement and by consistently getting off first with his jab, head-turning counter left hooks, and crisp combinations. However, despite his difficulty in cutting off the ring, Margarito never stopped pressing Cotto, and the Puerto Rican boxer-puncher was forced to move much more than he is used to. The energy Cotto expended in the first half of the fight began to show by the sixth and seventh rounds, when the former two-division titlist lacked the physical strength to block or evade all of Margarito’s winging power shots and thudding body punches. By the end of sixth round, Margarito was able to pin Cotto in a neutral corner and get off with three consecutive left uppercuts. Margarito’s success in the sixth round seemed to rejuvenate his efforts in the seventh, as he attacked from the sound of the bell, backing Cotto up with a straight right and then teeing off in close with left uppercuts that buzzed the Puerto Rican star enough for him to force a clinch in order to stem the Mexican’s momentum. Cotto tried to mount a rally near the end of the round, but Margarito’s non-stop body attack and straight right hands forced him to the ropes where the “TJ Tornado” got off with more left uppercuts. After the seventh round, the momentum of the fight officially switched to Margarito, and the Mexican fans in attendance cheered him on with chants of “Si se puede!” (a popular soccer chant in Mexico that means “Yes we can!”). Suddenly, the big points lead that Cotto racked up in the first five rounds didn’t seem to matter much as the defending champ’s face looked worse for wear than the challenger’s and his once crisp counter punches appeared to lose their snap. In rounds nine and 10, Cotto continued to employ fairly effective lateral movement, but his offense had clearly lost its steam. Cotto could still land clean shots to Margarito’s head, but he could not hold off the ever-advancing challenger, who pinned the Puerto Rican to the ropes near in the second part of both rounds and worked him over with left uppercut-right cross combinations, driving his fans into a frenzy. At the end of the 10th, Margartio landed a straight right-left hook combination that hurt Cotto just before the bell. In the 11th, Cotto’s body appeared completely drained of energy. He valiantly tired to continue his stick-and-move strategy, but was repeatedly stunned every time Margarito connected to his head. Finally, the proud warrior was forced to take a knee. He got up at referee Kenny Bayless’s count of eight, but was simply overwhelmed by the surging Margarito, who forced Cotto to the canvas again before his corner mercifully threw in the towel, ending the dramatic battle at 2:05 of the round. “This night was Margarito’s night,” a gracious Cotto said afterwards. “I’m very happy I was able to give the fans a good fight. Now I’m going to take a long rest and decide what to do next.” Cotto deserves a break. Since entering the welterweight division in December of 2006, he has faced top-10 contenders Quintana, Judah, Shane Mosley and Antonio Margarito. Margarito also deserves a break having faced top-10 contenders Josh Clottey, Paul Williams and Kermit Cintron in the time that Cotto has campaigned at 147 pounds, but with tonight’s win the long-time contender finally shook his “tough-but-limited” reputation and gained recognition as an elite fighter. Margarito will enter a new tax bracket not because he holds another title belt, but because he earned a loyal Mexican following by beating the best fighter from Puerto Rico since Felix Trinidad. In other words, the time is now for Margarito to engage in big fights. The logical fight to be made would be a rematch with Williams, the current WBO titlist who earned a points victory over Margarito last summer. The winner of that bout would be crowned the “undisputed” welterweight champ by the boxing media and fans, but issues between Margarito’s promoter (Bob Arum) and Williams’ promoter (Dan Goossen) will probably prevent that matchup from happening any time soon. Fortunately there are other marketable and interesting matchups available to Margarito in the deep welterweight landscape, such as the winner of September’s Mosley-Ricardo Mayorga showdown and next week’s IBF title fight between Judah and Clottey. While the direction Margarito’s brain trust will point their fighter in the near future is unknown, one thing fans can count on is a damn good scrap whenever the Tijuana Tornado steps into the ring. For Questions or Comments E-Mail Doug Fischer at dougie@maxboxing.com Discuss this Topic - Go to the forums