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.
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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.
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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.
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about 1 month ago
HBO always replays the PPV's on HBO usually within a week. I think maybe Oscar shoud watch this one, and realize that this is definitely not the fight he wants, but then again he shouldn't want Cotto after that either...maybe within 15 minutes of the fight ending Oscar would want Cotto. Oscar's career is a joke anymore...maybe he should focus on promoting the sport, and make it fun to watch for more people again...there are only a handfull of people on here that even take boxing seriously anymore.
from about 1 month ago
you know what Jason, its weird in that, in the US boxing is declining, but in MMA, fans want standup boxing/kickboxing wars more than anything else.
I think if boxing went to less rounds like maybe 10 instead of 12, and went to lighter gloves and smaller rings to increase ko's, things would pick up in the states again. Not to mention if boxing could start putting several big bouts together on one card, instead of a bunch of bum fights and one headliner.
people aren't missing great fights like last nights classic because boxing sucks, they are missing it because promoters and all the useless titles are killing good fights. Could you imagine if they had shown Cotto/Margarito on CBS last night instead of EliteXC?
BleacherReport would be flooded with articles today. Look at yahoosports today, they are practically having online orgasms over last nights fight.
from about 1 month ago
I didn't catch the fight last night but watched it in the morning here:
http://www.justin.tv/sportinwood/173455/Cotto_vs_Margarito
And what a fight it was. I'm a youngin when it comes to boxing but Margarito's chin was legendary in this fight. He broke Cotto psychologically. It wasn't just that Cotto couldn't hurt him with his best shots; physically on Margarito's face you couldn't tell he ever got hit. It was remarkable.
I also don't want to see De La Hoya bore everyone with another fight. He's over the hill and wouldn't last 5 rounds with Margarito.
Now Bryan, you're absolutely right about the decline of the sport. IMO, a boxing match like the one last night beats any marquis MMA fight anytime. The problem is that all of these matches are on PPV, and the public as a whole doesn't know who these guys are, so they have no incentive to buy the program. If boxing can get a couple of these fights on national TV they could try and help the cause. The system has to be changed from the marketing perspective extensively.
Last night's match has to go down as the fight of the year. I can't see it being topped.
Expect these two to have a rematch that takes place either at MSG or in Puerto Rico. Fighting in Vegas was basically a home fight for Margarito.
from about 1 month ago
I agree, David. This was the best fight I've seen, of any kind, this year. Nothing elso comes close.
from about 1 month ago
What got me down on boxing, to an extent obviously is the corruption...It's been around as long as I have been alive, but there are so many fighters that are supposed to be the greatest in the world, but they duck so many people, that just about every dream fight in every weight class is a what if scenario. I think they need a true champion that will fight all comers...one that believes that he can beat the best in the world, not just some windbag that brags about it.
about 1 month ago
Boxings problem is all the sanctioning bodies. And boxing isnt really declining in the US. PPV buys are better now than they were 10 years ago. If you make good fights people will watch.
MMA like it or not is just as dirty, just as corrupt. The UFC fighters are underpaid, arent provided with health insurance etc. Just look at Tito Ortiz and Randy Couture. They both left primarily for that reason.
MMA is also pretty fragmented. You got Fedor whos the best fighter in the sport fighting for Affliction. Sylvia as bad as he looked is a top 5 heavyweight in the world, Couture is retired. The UFC heavyweight division is just awful and boring. Than you got crappy EliteXC cards on CBS television. Its getting increasingly harder to take this sport seriously when you have Brock Lesnar jumping to the UFC after 1 fight and Kimbo Slice headlining one of the biggest events in MMA history on CBS.
The Margarito/Cotto fight was an absolute classic. It basically had everything. As much as I love MMA, its impossible to equal a boxing fight of this magnitude simply because not only was this fight a brawl but it was a skillful brawl as well. Margarito/Cotto both had the ability to slip, bob, weave, parry, block punches while finding a way to land a bit of their own. It was just a great fight and arguably not even the best boxing fight of the year. Vasquez/Marquez was arguably better.
from about 1 month ago
Vasquez/Marquez was indeed better, but Im prone to Hyperbole.
about 1 month ago
MARGARITO IS A VERY GOOD FIGHTER , AND THE FIGHT WAS VERY EXCITING , HOWEVER I HAD PREDICTED THIS ONE .MARGARITO IS JUST TOO BIG FOR COTTO . HES A FULL BLOWN WELTER BORDERING ON A MIDDLE WEIGHT AND COTTO DOESNT BELONG UP THERE . I'VE SEEN THIS TIME AND AGAIN WITH FIGHTERS LIKE OSCAR , SHANE AND TITO WHO ARE TRULY NO MORE THAN WELTERS GOING UP AGAINST THE LIKES OF BORDERLINE OR LEGIT LT. HEAVIES LIKE HOPKINS AND WINKY . I REALLY DONT THINK THAT SERVES BOXING WELL IN THE LONG RUN .THE TRUTH WAS COTTO WAS THE SUPERIOR FIGHTER AND HIT MARGARITO WITH THE KITCHEN SINK BUT COULDNT HURT THE BIGGER MAN .I LIKE BOTH FIGHTERS BUT HAD PREDICTED THESE EXACT RESULTS , AND IF YOU REALLY KNOW BOXING AND WERE LOOKING AT THE FIGHT OBJECTIVELY YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO PREDICT THE RESULT TO SOME DEGREE.
from about 1 month ago
well Mike, if you read my preview article about the fight I wrote some time ago, I stated that a Margarito ko was a good possibility. He was the bigger man, and was able to walk thru stuff.
Also I would like to point out that maybe you should turn your caps off, unless you like to yell at people.
about 1 month ago
can someone please tell me what was Magarito's "fight day" weight?
from 29 days ago
this is off the top of my head, but if I remember correctly it was somewhere around 158 or so.
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