Miguel Cotto made a statement Saturday night when he avenged his 2008 controversial loss to Antonio Margarito by beating the Mexican in Madison Square Garden and retraining his WBA junior-middleweight belt in front of a sold out crowd full of Cotto’s Puerto Rican supporters.
The fight lived up to the pre-fight hype and build u. Cotto was boxing beautifully and showed improved footwork, and stamina, Margarito as usual pressed the fight while getting hit with Miguel Cotto counters.
Antonio Margarito exchanged words with Miguel Cotto each time Cotto landed punches on his vulnerable right eye. Miguel Cotto’s plan to target the right eye of Margarito worked as it started to swell up badly and closed shut in the middle rounds. This was the same right eye that Manny Pacquiao damaged and forced Margarito to undergo surgery to save his vision.
No matter what Margarito tried to do he couldn’t find his target and was missing the elusive Puerto Rican boxer.
The stoppage came just before the start of the 10th round when referee Steve Smoger asked the ringside physician to check on the eye and after looking at the eye the doctor told Smoger to stop the fight.
After the fight, the bad blood between the two fighters still remained as they refused to shake hands. Miguel Cotto said Margarito means nothing to him and Margarito said Cotto punches like a girl and that the fight was stopped too early.
Cotto wants to take a vacation before announcing plans for his next fight and Margarito’s eye will be checked at the hospital to see if he needs to undergo surgery just like he did after the Manny Pacquiao fight.
