Antonio Margarito Knocks Out Miguel Cotto In Fight Of The Year

No wonder they call him the "Tijuana Tornado."

In a brutal, exciting 11-round war Antonio Margarito stopped Miguel Cotto to take the WBA welterweight title and end Cotto's unbeaten streak.

Margarito, now 37-5 with 27 KOs, dropped Cotto twice in the 11th round after pressuring and wearing down Cotto with a relentless attack.

“I told my corner I would wear him down and then knock him out,” said Margarito after the fight.

“He never hurt me, but that was the game plan, to come out early strong and to wear him down and knock him out. I got him with body shots, and then I hit him in the head, and then I knocked him out.”

Cotto looked good early on, boxing and moving, landing good counterpunches and showing his better handspeed. Margarito walked through all of Cotto's best shots and turned the tide in the middle rounds, wearing Cotto down.

Cotto began looking tired and got on his bicycle, moving away from Margarito and trying to box, but to no avail. After suffering two knockdowns, Cotto's corner had seen enough and they threw in the towel.

With the loss, Cotto moves to 32-1.

Random Thoughts

An interesting fact is that the crowd was largely pro-Margarito. Cotto is used to having a large cheering section in his fights. The Mexican fans made their presence felt at the MGM Grand for this spectacular fight.

Cotto may have won more fans with this loss than any of his previous wins. He showed tremendous heart and courage, and should silence all the critics of his chin with this one. He took many, many bombs from Margarito before going down.

With this win, Margarito may have won the Oscar De La Hoya sweepstakes for December. My advice to De La Hoya—retire now and save yourself the beating.

What's next for Cotto? Hopefully some time off to heal after this brutal fight.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. turned down an offer of 8 million to fight Margarito a few years back. Now we all know why.

This was a true gem, one of the few times boxing has shown the best of what it can be. The only shame is that this was on PPV, and it should have been on HBO. Ive seen a lot of fights,both MMA and Boxing, and this was easily the best fight of any kind this year.