Cotto vs. Margarito 2: Hangover from Pacquiao Loss Will Doom Margarito

One of boxing’s most storied venues will host another great bout tomorrow night when Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito battle it out at Madison Square Garden. Since he won the first meeting between these two fighters in 2008, Margarito’s career has been headed in the wrong direction.

First, a loss to Shane Mosley was exacerbated by the discovery that Margarito was using illegal hand wraps. (Cotto has accused his opponent of using the same tactic in their first bout, though no official determination of wrongdoing was ever made.)

Then, last fall, Margarito took the worst beating of his career, losing a unanimous decision to Manny Pacquiao. After the fight, Margarito learned that he had broken his right orbital bone, an injury that required surgery and nearly prevented the New York State Athletic Commission from granting him a license for the Cotto rematch.

Cotto lost just as decisively (albeit without lasting injury) to the peerless Pacquiao, but it will be Margarito’s fight with the Filipino champ that has the bigger effect tomorrow night. While Cotto has beaten Yuri Foreman and Ricardo Mayorga since falling to Pacquiao, Margarito will be back in the ring for the first time.

The biggest key to Margarito’s boxing success has been his ability to take a punch. Even in beating Cotto the first time around, Margarito was pounded in the early rounds but came back to wear down his opponent by the end of the fight.

After getting pummeled by Pacquiao, though, Margarito will have a tough time standing up to a similar onslaught from Cotto. Cotto doesn’t have Pacquiao’s power, but he’s a technically superior fighter to Margarito and should have even more of an advantage defensively now that he’s faced the Tijuana Tornado once.

Just because Margarito’s facial injuries have healed enough for him to box again doesn’t mean that it won’t get in his head when he starts taking punches from Cotto. Expect this fight to start much like their first bout, but without the recovery from Margarito at the end.