Puerto Rico fought Mexico in New York for the second time Saturday night. Miguel Cotto defeated Antonio Margarito to avenge his controversial loss in their previous bout three years ago.
Cotto (37-2-0) had claimed that Margarito had wrapped his hands with plaster before their fight back in 2008. The point of the matter was Margarito used illegal hand wraps before losing in his fight against Shane Mosely and Cotto had suspected the same behaviour from Margarito in their fight. Cotto said he also had the proof that Margarito illegally wrapped his hands in their first fight. Miguel Cotto’s face swelled up like a tomato and explained that his face was never the same after that.
Whatever happened last fight didn’t matter because Cotto showed up big last night. Margarito (38-8-0) had humiliated himself before stepping in to the ring with really untidy cornrows. Yeah they fought all the way into the 10th round, but Cotto knew he was going to win when he realized he was taking on a wannabe character from Mortal Kombat. Margarito should have never tried so hard to look pretty for such an abusive night out.
Many of the 21, 239 spectators at Madison Square Garden were jeering on for a defeat of Margarito; fortunately they got what they came for. The New York crowd was going wild for Cotto as he retained his 154- pound title, and earned his respect after shuttering Margarito’s eye to stop the fight.
Cotto had damaged Margarito’s eye in the 3rd round. By the 7th round, Margarito’s eye had shut closed. Margarito fought desperately to survive and managed to do that before the doctor ended the fight 3 seconds into the 10th round.
Margarito needed 12 stitches at the end of the fight. Cotto had the crowd going even before the fight begun and left them with a happy ending.
HBO Face-Off: Cotto vs Margarito
Cotto vs Margarito Highlights
