Did Miguel Cotto Expose Antonio Margarito For Cheating?
Miguel Cotto finally got the revenge he has long been asking for when he pummeled Antonio Margarito in their highly anticipated rematch, three years after Margarito’s victory over Cotto came into question because of illegal hand wraps used by the Mexican against Shane Mosley.
The victory for Cotto was a satisfying one that proved to him that he can beat his arch-nemesis. But did it prove that Margarito has been cheating all along?
On the surface, it appears that he did. Cotto started the fight just the same as he did in 2008, clearly outboxing his foe through the first half of the fight. But instead of Margarito’s punches accumulating punishment to eventually wear down Cotto in the second half of the fight, Cotto seemed to be fresh heading into the late rounds as he whacked Margarito repeatedly until his eye shut and doctors were convinced that he could no longer continue after the 9th round.
However, there are other factors that play into this. For one, Margarito hasn’t fought since last November. Ring rust could have been a factor as he may not have been as sharp as he was in their first fight. Cotto may have prepared for this fight knowing what he was dealing with after taking Margarito’s best in their first fight. No, Cotto wasn’t a bloody mess as he was in 2008, but his face was busted up pretty good with three full rounds left to go.
The bottom line is that Miguel Cotto feels that Margarito cheated in their first fight and he avenged that loss on Saturday night in front of 20,000 roaring fans in New York City. Sure, nobody will ever truly know how long Margarito used the illegal hand wraps, but on this night there were no thudding blows that had Cotto spitting up blood in the late rounds. There was no monster comeback allowing boxing fans to call it an instant classic. All we saw was a one-sided throttling by Miguel Cotto against the man many believe cheated his way to victory. The truth may never, ever come out, but Cotto and his family can rest easy knowing that this chapter has finally been closed.
The statement that Margarito had “Ring Rust” because he had not fought since Nov, give me a break. Margacheato – Plaster = GARBAGE. Since the hand wraps incident he has only won one fight and got pummeled 3 times. The fight that he won was with an unknown fighter from Mexico that was tailor made for him and he couln’t knock him out. Think about it, Miguel did not exposed Margacheato by himself all the fights margacheato had since being cought prove that he in fact was cheating all along. Answer me this: How can someone that was destroying top opposition before being cought all of the sudden can even ko a mediocre fighter tailor made for him? He cheated people need to stop making excuses for him, resto did the same and paid it with 10 years in prison and banned from the sport and people still trying to make excuses for this disgrace.
Fight was stopped too early. Cotto was hurt in the 9th and I am sure he would have gone down if the fight continued. It is obvious that New York was protecting Cotto. I have seen much much worse eyes on other fighters and they let them continue. I am sure Cotto felt Margaritos punches as he ran most of the night and his face was indeed busted up. But we will never know. Cotto might have had the satisfaction of winning, but with doctors help. Margarito has the satisfaction of saying I stopped and kocked Cotto.
Cotto was not hurt in the 9th round. I’m not sure if you remember, but Emmanuel Steward was wondering why Cotto didn’t just keep pushing him back and unload to the body. That is exactly what Cotto was beginning to do. For whatever reason, people think that because Cotto was pushing Margarito back into the ropes (like he is supposed to tactically) he was diminishing.
And Margarito has the satisfaction of saying most boxers and alot of the fan know I cheated in my first fight with Cotto. New York gave Margarito an opportunity to fight. They should have never licensed him. He took the opportunity they gave him and had his eye destroyed like they the NEW YORK BOXING COMMISSION was afraid. THE HELL DID YOU EXPECT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN?