By Jhonny Gonzalez
According to WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto, the bulk of the rematch pressure is falling on the shoulders of Antonio Margarito. While Margarito knocked Cotto out in the eleventh round of their 2008 meeting, the Mexican boxer was involved in a serious scandal the following year.
Prior to facing Shane Mosley in January 2009, Margarito's handwraps were confiscated after a plaster-like substance was discovered by Mosley's trainer. Margarito's boxing license was revoked for over a year, and the win over Cotto was now being questioned. Experts, and fans, continue to speculate if Margarito used tampered handwraps against Cotto.
The rematch, on December 3rd at New York's Madison Square Garden, will answer every question.
"After my loss to Margarito, there came the scandal with the bandages, and he was suspended for over a year while I stayed in the public eye, and in my next fight I reclaimed my title. He feels the pressure going into this fight, not me. One matures. You live and you learn from what happens in life, and I have not lived in vain since 2008 to the present. I know this defeat will motivate me going into this fight," Cotto told Carlos Gonzalez.