Top Rank Ecstatic To Keep Cotto-Margarito in New York

By Keith Idec

The promoters of the Antonio Margarito-Miguel Cotto rematch were ecstatic early Tuesday night upon learning they can keep the highly anticipated pay-per-view fight at Madison Square Garden.

Carl Moretti, Top Rank’s vice president of boxing operations, was perhaps happiest to have the ordeal behind them because he has attended all three New York State Athletic Commission hearings over the past seven days. Moretti also went with Margarito to his two doctor appointments in New York on Monday.

“We’re all elated by the decision,” Moretti said. “We always felt that he was 100-percent fit to fight, and this is proof of that. They believed all the doctors and they took everything into consideration. The fact that it’s at the Garden and it’s the biggest fight maybe of the year in boxing, you just can’t put into words what it means to keep this fight in New York.”

The three-member NYSAC announced just before 6 p.m. EST on Tuesday that they approved Margarito’s license application. The NYSAC based its final decision on the recommendation of Dr. Michael T. Goldstein, the NYSAC-approved eye expert who examined Margarito on Monday.

The NYSAC’s approval spared Bob Arum’s Top Rank the hassle of trying to move the HBO Pay-Per-View card to Pepsi Coliseum in Denver. Not only had the promotional company sold more than 18,000 tickets to the event in New York, Cotto (36-2, 29 KOs) said on a conference call earlier Tuesday that he wouldn’t fight Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs, 1 NC) on Dec. 3 anywhere other than Madison Square Garden.

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com.