Cotto Batters Margarito In Rematch!

There was never any doubt that WBA Jr middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (37-2, 30 KOs) was the superior boxer leading up to his rematch with Mexican slugger Antonio Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs), the question was; could he remain standing under the relentless pressure of Margarito who is known for walking down his opponents and eventually making them crumble.

In front of a sell-out crowd of 21,239 at the Madison Square Garden in New York, Cotto fired off thudding combinations to the head of Margarito just as he did in the their first match, while Margarito stayed there and took the punishment without a second thought. In the third round, after targeting Margarito’s already damaged right eye, Cotto was able to open up a cut and start the swelling. Sensing the fight could be stopped, the Mexican fighter stepped up the pressure and taunted Cotto as he walked through punches. This time around Cotto did not linger on the ropes or allow himself to be beaten in a corner as he did in the first fight. He stayed mobile and fought off the zombie like attack with precise combinations. By the seventh round, Margarito’s eye was swollen shut but he was still walking forward and stalking Cotto. With the Puerto Rican fighting a near perfect fight and well ahead on points, there was still a question… could Cotto go the distance? The ringside physician took a look at Margarito’s badly beaten eye before the start of the ninth but allowed him to continue. In the tenth however, referee Steve Smoger would call a halt to the bout at the request of the NYSAC just 3 seconds in as Margarito and team pleaded for one more round.

“The eye was completely shut,” Smoger said. “Dr. Jordan said he couldn’t see out and I couldn’t see in. We have a rule in New York that if you can’t see out of an eye, we have to stop the fight.”

Cotto beautifully boxed his way to a TKO victory after ten rounds and remained standing under non-stop pressure. He put in the work and targeted that right eye so he wouldn’t have to go the distance…

“Cotto was protected” Margarito said. “my eye was worse when I fought Pacquiao, I asked for at least one more round – they didn’t wanna give it to me”

“He’s still a very strong fighter, but I’m better than he is,” Cotto said. “I’m very happy and very proud of what I did tonight. There was a lot of hard work in this training camp and the strategy worked.”

Rios vs. Murry (Co-feature)

After losing his belt on the scale, former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (29-0-1, 21 KOs), pounded out an eleventh round KO victory over John Murray (31-2, 18 KOs). Referee Earl Brown waved it off after a beaten and bloodied Murray had taken enough punishment to warrant the stoppage. The time was 2:06.

Rodriguez vs. Wolack

In a rematch of their “Fight of the Year” candidate draw, Delvin Rodriguez (26-5-3, 14 KOs) won a ten round unanimous decision over Pawel Wolak (29-2-1, 19 KOs) in a fight that started much like the first one but this time ended with Rodriguez settling the score and running away with the 98-91, 98-91, 100-90 victory.