By Mark Vester
Former two-time welterweight champion Antonio Margarito can intimidate a lot of opponents, but he can't crack the confidence of WBA welterweight champion Miguel Cotto. The two meet on July 26 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on HBO pay-per-view.
"Margarito is another opponent that I have to beat. For me this fight is the same level as that of Zab Judah and that of Shane Mosley. I'm training hard to be in the best possible condition and to rise to another level in the ring to win. Anything else would be abandoning the fans and the people who write about boxing," Cotto said to El Nuevo Dia.
One thing is for sure, Cotto is coming to fight and expects a fight from Margarito, the toughest opponent of his undefeated career.
"The fight, they called it 'The Battle' and that is what is going to be in the ring, since two warriors are going to face each other. It's going to be a nother great chapter in the rivalry between Puerto Rico and Mexico, like the fights of Gómez-Sánchez, Gómez-Zárate and Trinidad-De La Hoya. I expect to give a great performance to place this fight at the same level of those big battles," Cotto said.
Cotto feels that his much improved abilities as a boxer will be the difference in the fight with the aggressive brawler in Margarito.
"The past two years have been excellent for me and I have shown that I am not only a slugger, I can also move and I can box. I am a complete boxer. And that is the type of fighter that people like to see. In this fight, I am going to do everything that I need to do to win," Cotto said.
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