However, Antonio Margarito gradually forced his opponent to fight at a pace he was uncomfortable with, creating his best chance for victory and an enthralling fight into the bargain.
Cotto was the undefeated East Coast draw coming into his prime, having won world titles at two weights. The loser has enjoyed a brighter future, adding a light-middle strap and gaining one-sided revenge over Margarito , before halting world middleweight champion Sergio Martinez in June this year to cement his place in history. Antonio was swathed in controversy after being discovered with doctored handwraps before his next fight, a loss to Shane Mosley, and he retired after Cotto battered him to defeat in their rematch.
A spectacular bout won by Antonio Margarito via eleventh round TKO, the debate that raged in its aftermath was not about incomprehensible judging or an ill-conceived stoppage, but whether Margarito had cheated by using plaster-fortified hand wraps. The evidence for whether he did—while circumstantial—is highly persuasive, and obscures eleven eventful rounds that saw Miguel Cotto turn from matador into bull, as his face degenerated into a bloody, swollen pancake.
No official consensus has been reached as to whether illegal wraps were ever used, but revisiting the bout is an eerie experience in which one suspects the loser of fighting at a very dangerous disadvantage.
Prior to facing Margarito, the WBA welterweight champion Cotto had not lost in his first 32 professional fights. His title, won after five rounds of work against Carlos Quintana, was followed by high profile victories against Zab Judah and Shane Mosley, whom he knocked out and outpointed, respectively. Not a beautiful fighter—even awkward looking in his hunched fighting stance—the iron-jawed Mexican carried a deserved reputation for toughness, never having been truly stopped in any of his four defeats.
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I'm telling Miguel that Margarito will take risks in the ring so he should take advantage of this. If we don't see a KO during the first rounds, then it's gonna go the distance. He has proven himself against some great fighters so once he wins over Margarito I think he should go after the big bucks," Manuelle said. ET -- That was great!
Terrific weigh-in this afternoon, one of the most atmospheric and enthusiastic non-De La Hoya weigh-ins I've been to apart from the exceptional Mayweather-Hatton event. Probably a couple of thousand people in the arena -- and again, to my surprise, seemingly more Puerto Ricans than Mexicans. I would guess it was maybe in favor of Cotto folks. But a strategic error by some of the Mexican fans: They were chanting "Mar-gar-ito" at the same time their rivals were chanting "Puer-to-Ri-co" so it sounded a little like they were joining in.
The two fighters came to the stage, and prepared to weigh in. Margarito seemed to be wearing layer upon layer of clothing; it felt like it took an age for him to disrobe. Even then, he left his beanie hat on his head. He was obviously confident of making weight, which he did, right on the button, skinny pounds in a lanky frame.
Then Cotto swaggered on to the scale. That's the best way to describe how Cotto moves. He swaggers. Not an air of self-doubt about that man. He also weighed on the button. They posed, and Margarito's height advantage was obvious. Then they turned away from each other, Cotto sipped some water and then they were gone. ET -- To sell a fight It takes all kinds of little touches to sell a fight. Top Rank has provided each camp with a bus for this fight; one with the image and name of Antonio Margarito on the side, one with Miguel Cotto, and both advertising the fight.
The buses are at the camps' disposal -- Margarito, for example, came into town from L. Today, in the baking Las Vegas sunshine, Rick Seara, Top Rank's video producer extraordinaire, arranged the buses for a shot for tonight's Telefutura card. The buses pulled up to each other, and Telefutura announcers Bernard Osuna and Ricardo Ceris came out of them, and stood in front of them to film a piece that will open the broadcast.
When you see it tonight, it will probably last about 30 seconds, but the whole thing took close to 30 minutes to set up. All part of the process to promote a fight, right up until the first bell rings. Unlike Margarito, Cotto had his entourage with him, and unlike with Margarito, there was a noticeable buzz from fans, who rushed over to try and shake his hand as we walked along.
ET -- It's on now A couple of hours to go until the weigh-in and, as often happens at this point of fight week, the atmosphere has kicked up a notch. There are a lot of fans waving flags and chanting for their fighters near the entrance to the arena. The general consensus was that Margarito would probably have the larger number of fans because of the Mexcian population in the region, but so far at least, it seems that Cotto's fans are in the ascendancy. They are certainly the more vocal, chanting "Cotto, Cotto," loudly as they walk through the casino.
ET -- Where's my fight credential? As I walked into the media room, I had absentmindedly reached into my bag and pulled out a credential and put it around my neck. Third time lucky, I finally put the right one around my neck.
First: Awesome movie. Heath Ledger's Joker is all that was advertised, and then some. There's a scene where Bruce Wayne elects not to don the batsuit and drive the Batmobile because it's daytime, and Batman apparently doesn't do days. Which, in a tortured blogging segue, makes me think of Las Vegas. This is a town that totally comes to life at night; right now, as on so many mornings, it's quiet around here.
That will change as the day progresses and fans start arriving. I plan on wandering around the casino looking for unsuspecting subjects to talk to over the course of the day. ET -- How's Harold to know? How can you not be?
It's going to be a great fight. There's going to be a lot of heavy blows landing, I know that. ET -- Who was that man? A lot of fighters tend to be surly, reclusive and uncommunicative on the morning before the weigh-in. They crave food and liquid, and not unreasonably tend to be in a bad mood, waiting for the chance to drink and eat.
Other fighters, when they do venture out from their room, do so at the head of a large entourage, looking to attract as much attention to themselves as possible. And then there's Antonio Margarito, quietly strolling through the MGM this morning, looking relaxed and dressed unobtrusively in a tracksuit. Friday, 2 p. ET -- Back at the desk Another day, another morning in the media room. Please keep sending e-mails to kieranAKVegas gmail. I plan to spend most of Saturday answering your comments and questions in the blog, so please keep them coming.
Friday, a. You can click here for the Bert and Kieran show or perhaps it should be the Bert show, guest starring Kieran and if you have somehow failed to discover our own Heavy Hitting podcast, you can check them all out here. ET -- One day to go The buildup is almost all over, and the fight so many of us have been waiting for, is a little over a day away.
The weigh-in today will provide the last chance for us to see the two fighters before Saturday night, and I don't think there's any doubt that both men will make weight and look good. The weigh-in is often a good gauge of the likely crowd size, atmosphere and relative support. I'll be back later with a report from the scales; and I'll be spending much of the day prowling the corridors of the MGM Grand, looking for comments from fans and others as people start to appear for the big fight.
Thursday, p. ET -- Does the fire still burn? At times when discussing the fight, I thought Ray Leonard sounded almost wistful. Does he miss it all? I don't miss being hit. I miss coming up with a game plan, coming up with a strategy. You can't beat that. My family was my training camps, my friends. It's the best. Plus I got in shape, too. You sign the fight, you talk trash. You may not mean it as condescending when you say it, but you mean it because you're confident.
Then when it comes to training camp and you're not in tip-top shape and your sparring partners pretty much get the best of you sometimes. Then over the course of the four weeks, five weeks, everything starts to come together, and you become confident.
Then all of a sudden, there's about a week before the fight, you can't wait. You want to fight tomorrow. You're peaking at that point, and you know you're ready. Right now, they don't want to talk, they don't want to socialize, they just want to think about the fight. ET -- Sugar Ray Leonard answers your questions [sort of] Kennedy Clark in Dallas asks: "With Antonio Margarito's attacking style of offense, do you think this will work to his advantage or to his detriment?
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