Antonio Margarito Welcomes a Miguel Cotto Rematch

By Jhonny Gonzalez

Antonio Margarito's co-manager, Francisco Espinoza, spoke with reporter Reymond Colon, and said the "Tijuana Tornado" was delighted with the recent news that WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto was open to a rematch. Margarito knocked Cotto out in eleven rounds two years ago.

After Margarito was suspended for loading his gloves prior to a January 2009 bout with Shane Mosley, heavy doubts began to hang above his win over Cotto. Espinoza says a rematch would prove that Margarito was a honest fighter in the first Cotto fight.  

"I thought he was never going to agree to a rematch, and what's important is the fight benefits Margarito as much as it does Cotto. There are some aspects that make this more interesting than the first fight. And the people would realize that Margarito has always been conducted in an honest manner, and this would provide him with the opportunity to show it," Espinoza said.

Espinoza is not sure if they should go straight for the Cotto rematch, or try to win the vacant WBC junior middleweight title and then hold a unification with Cotto. Margarito is the #2 ranked fighter under the WBC. Espinoza expects the santioning organization to soon issue an order for Margarito and the #1 ranked Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. to fight for the title. He doesn't expect Chavez Jr. to take the fight. More likely is a third meeting with the #3 ranked Kermit Cintron.

Before anything can happen, Margarito has to get approved for a license to box in the United States.

"This coming month we are going to go to the commission in California.  I believe that we more or less fixed the situation. In January, Tony complied with a year of suspension and we are almost in July. He sat out an additional six months," Espinoza said.

Espinoza was impressed with Cotto's recent big win over Yuri Foreman on June 5.

"He looked impressive. He did very well and looked strong. I thought that it was going to be a hard fight since Margarito could not drop Daniel Santos and Foreman did.  I do not know if was simply that Santos had a bad night, but I thought that it would be a hard fight for Cotto.  Instead it was one of his easiest fights," Espinoza said.