By Mark Vester
Everything appears to be moving forward as previously planned. Miguel Cotto, should he beat Michael Jennings on February 21, will face Antonio Margarito in a rematch on June 13 in New York's Madison Square Garden. The rematch plans were in doubt when Shane Mosley dominated Margarito last Saturday before knocking him out in the ninth round. Top Rank's Bob Arum sees no reason as to why the Mosley-Margarito rematch should not go forward.
"I still have to talk with Cotto, but the idea still remains for Antonio and Miguel to fight each other in June. Margarito continues being very popular with the Mexican fans and, besides, Miguel will make a lot more money in the rematch," Arum told Primera Hora.
The paper wondered why Arum would not match Cotto in a rematch with Mosley. Cotto won a decision over Mosley at The Garden in 2007. Arum says a fight between Cotto and Margarito will generate more money than a Cotto-Mosley rematch.
"During these times, the idea for Miguel to take a fight with Mosley sounds pretty, but in terms of money - it makes no sense. Mosley is going to want half of everything, and in that sense Miguel would receive less money," Arum said.
Speaking of money, Francisco Espinoza, Margarito's co-manager, does not believe his fighter's loss should affect their income in the Cotto rematch.
"I do not believe that they should pay him less money now. Tony sold almost 21,000 ticket at the Staples Center, something that had never been done by the Lakers in the playoffs or Madonna," said Espinoza to El Nuevo Dia.
"Still, everything is very premature, but I have understood that a [Cotto rematch] is the plan and to seems good to us, but we have to see how Tony feels in the next days. After the fight [with Mosley] they did all of the medical exams and they turned out well. We still have to see what happens with Cotto's next fight, and we have to sit down to negotiate with our promoter."
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