Cotto vs. Margarito: Angry Cotto Will Back Up Tough Talk with Victory

Pre-fight interviews, by their nature, tend to have their share of verbal jabs taken at the opposing fighter. Tomorrow night’s contest between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito, however, has even more bad blood than the average fight.

Cotto has repeatedly accused Margarito of using illegal hand wraps in their first fight (a TKO for Margarito) in 2008. There’s a certain amount of weight to the claim, less because of Cotto’s alleged photographic proof than because Margarito was actually caught committing the same offense in a loss to Shane Mosley six months later.

Margarito, for his part, says the Mosley chicanery was executed by his ex-trainer without his knowledge, but isn’t about to let Cotto’s accusations go unpunished. As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, Margarito said through a translator that “someone will be getting hurt in this fight. Both of us are going out to hurt each other.”

Of the two, the fighter who looks like he has the better chance to let his fists do the talking is Cotto. He’s coming off a pair of victories (albeit against lesser opponents), while Margarito was pounded so badly by Manny Pacquiao in his last fight that he needed surgery to repair a broken orbital bone.

Cotto is also the more skilled fighter, whereas Margarito is a brawler who has relied largely on being able to take everything his opponent throws at him. For all that Margarito’s eye is healed enough for him to fight again, there’s no telling whether he’ll be able to take as many shots to the head as he could before the injury.

Margarito has only been knocked out once in his career (by Mosley), so it’s unlikely that Cotto will win this one without going the distance. Given his technical superiority, though, expect the Puerto Rican standout to outlast Margarito this time around and earn a victory from the judges.