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A RING CLASSIC
At left, Mexico's Antonio Margarito hammers undefeated Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico on his way to making ring history. At right, the new champ exults in victory. --Photos from Reuters |
Superstar Miguel Cotto hammered into defeat
of TheColumnists.com
Even before the bell rang for Round One, the hypemeisters were calling it "the fight of the year."
It was a matchup truly too good to be true: Undefeated Puerto Rican superstar Miguel Cotto vs. two-time ex-champ Antonio Margarito of Mexico, the most feared--and avoided--fighter in boxing's welterweight division, for supremacy among the world's 147-pounders.
Except the hype wasn't hype. It all came true Saturday night on HBO. If it wasn't the fight of the year, I may have a heart attack from excitment watching whatever fight is more thrilling than this one.
Expert boxer Cotto landed precise and powerful shots time after time on the durable chin of hard-pressing Margarito, but 2:05 into Round 11 of the epic 12-rounder, it was the blood-smeared and battered Cotto who finally sank to his knees, signalling he was all finished as his corner threw in the towel. The referee pulled the flailing Margarito off the thoroughly defeated Cotto and raised the Mexican's hand in victory.
Antonio Margarito, "the Tijuana Tornado," had absolutely demolished the 8-5 betting favorite and won Cotto's World Boxing Assn. welterweight crown. Since Margarito previously held both the WBO and IBF versions of the title, I'd say that makes the tough brawler the king of the division recently ruled by the slick and classy Floyd Mayweather Jr., who retired rather than risk his undefeated ring record against either Margarito or Cotto.
Margarito's hard-won victory now sets him up for what could be a titanic big money event--a match with boxing's "Golden Boy" Oscar de la Hoya, who plans to retire by the end of this year, hopefully after one more giant paycheck. (De La Hoya, the former welterweight champ, set the all-time money-making record for any boxing event two years ago with his losing fight against Mayweather, who also ducked a rematch by retiring.)
Margarito beating Cotto was an outcome
not foreseen by many "experts" in the boxing world,
who conceded Margarito would make Cotto fight at the top of his
form, but thought he ultimately would be defeated by the much
more stylish and well-rounded boxer-puncher from Puerto Rico.
Cotto was so cocksure of victory that he brought his entire family
to ringside to watch him score his greatest triumph. Instead,
his brutal loss gave viewers a sad visual tableau as the HBO
cameras showed Cotto's distraught wife crying at ringside, clutching
Cotto's sobbing son to her bosom as if they'd just witnessed
his execution.
And, in a manner of speaking, they had. The taller, stronger Margarito had pressed Cotto so hard throughout the bout that the champ was virtually running from him by the last few rounds. Margarito had successfully stifled Cotto's ability to throw his most devastating punch--a left hook to the rib cage--because Cotto didn't dare expose himself to Margarito's deadly right hand, which frequently came sailing over Cotto's shoulder to pound his ear, nose and chin.
Running for 10 rounds is very strenuous, especially when you're running from somebody who's whacking you in the midsection every time he gets within punching range and pounding your head every time you slow down. Had Cotto stood still and punched with Margarito, the fight might have been over quickly, one way or the other. But by choosing a hit and run strategy, Cotto made the fight close and forced Margarito to reach new heights in agressiveness and vicious power-punching.
It was clear to me from early in the fight that Margarito was thrashing Cotto to the body, wearing him down and inflicting such pain on him that Cotto rarely was able to plant his feet solidly enough to deliver his own knockout power.
Still, Cotto is quick and accurate and he pierced Margarito's defense constantly with shots to the challenger's face. But the fact that Cotto was virtually flying around the ring to avoid Margarito's fury and not setting in position to really deliver damaging punches, his direct hits didn't even make Margarito blink. As the HBO analysts often said, Margarito was literally walking through Cotto's best shots.
Speaking of the HBO analysts, I've never heard them any worse than they were last night, especially Max Kellerman, who's been groomed to replace the much older, but much savvier Larry Merchant, who had the night off. In the round just before the knockout, Kellerman still was arguing that Cotto was delivering the crisper, more effective punches. He was trying to suggest Margarito's busier style might influence the judges in a fight Cotto was winning clearly. He was backed up by fellow broadcaster Jim Lampley.
What fight were they seeing? Admittedly, I was a kazillion miles away from Las Vegas, where the mayhem ensued, but via the telecast I could see clearly that Cotto's punches were not inflicting serious hurt on Margarito while Cotto was wincing from the shots his opponent was getting through his defenses. When the fight was over, Margarito was bruised, but otherwise in fine fettle while Cotto was bleeding badly from his nose and facial cuts and looking like he'd just escaped from a tank full of piranha. Cotto left the arena as fast as he could walk and refused to let Kellerman come in for a post-fight interview.
However, by no means was this an easy rollover of the much-touted Cotto. Though I had Margarito ahead 97-93 through 10 rounds, each round was closely fought until Margarito finally began beating Cotto up in the 10th and 11th rounds.
That made it a ring classic: A closely-contested battle between two determined warriors. Margarito, who's long and muscular and wears a moustache and shaggy hair, looks like a mugger with boxing gloves. Cotto, 26, whose head is even clean-shaven, looks streamlined and slick, but he's small for the division at 5 foot 8 while the 30-year-old Margarito is 5-11 and strongly built. If Margarito didn't fight in a semi-crouch, it would have looked like a big kid beating up on a small kid.
Most expected Margarito to jump on Cotto from the opening bell, but he didn't and may have lost the first round. Though the HBO guys thought Cotto was putting rounds won on points in "the bank," I figured Margarito wouldn't care what Cotto had in his bank because he planned on breaking it into little pieces. That's what he did.
A rematch of this great fight would be a mighty attraction, but I'm not sure Cotto would want any part of it. If Margarito-de la Hoya happens, it, too, will be a war and another possible ring classic. Should Mayweather decide to end his surprise retirement and return to the ring to fight the winner of a Margarito-de la Hoya bout, that could set yet another box office record.
And, by the way, what ever happened to the notion that boxing goes where the heavyweights go? With bouts as fierce and exciting as this one, who needs heavyweights anymore?
©2008 by Ron Miller. This column first posted July 28, 2008.
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