By Keith Terceira
The dust from this weekends “Battle” between Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto has not even cleared and already thoughts of a rematch are building anticipation in my gut. As predicted Margarito’s uppercuts, strength, chin, and relentless attack stole the show and he prevailed against the odds makers. Antonio Margarito is the man of the hour and he has long deserved his place in the limelight.
Is Miguel Cotto a finished champion who has been exposed?
I think not, if anything in my book he showed bigger potential than prior to his loss. In his defeat I have gained a new respect for the Puerto Rican native that I had reserved until after he faced what many believe to be the toughest fighter in the division. Though the toughest, Margarito is not undefeatable.
Let’s get one thing straight form the beginning of this piece this is not a knock on Margo or in any way a slap in his direction. It is simply my own thoughts of where Cotto and his camp went wrong in their game plan against the constant pressure of Antonio Margarito. It is also my perspective on why another fight could possibly favor Cotto, unless done to quickly , where I then feel it favors Margarito.
Miguel Cotto impressed me with his level of conditioning when I saw the photos and video of the weigh-in and second thoughts began to creep into my mind for the only time prior to the fight. Cotto looked very lean and well frankly I though he was conditioned enough to outbox Margarito possibly. When he stepped into the ring though I lost those butterflies because in my estimation he had re-hydrated to much to stay as active as he would need to be to take a decision in the fight. Most of the leanness and cut had gone from his body and his muscles had taken on plenty of water. It would be interesting to see what his weight was when he stepped onto the canvas.
Underestimation is the key word in this loss by Cotto. I feel his team underestimated the chin and pressure that Antonio would bring.
The first four out of five-rounds of this war, by my estimation, went to Cotto by a fairly wide margin and one slightly, it also set the stage for what took place in the following six-rounds. By the start of the eleventh, my scorecard had Margarito even with Cotto but the tide had turned in the sixth and Cotto was spent going into the eleveth-round of the fight. Not defeated by no means, but nothing was left in the tank for him to draw from, and you could see from the eighth on that he was baffled by Margarito’s chin and relentless attack.
Miguel Cotto clearly had more hand speed and boxing ability against Margarito than originally I thought he would , choosing to use that hand speed along the ropes where he could be trapped and fall prey to having to fight on the inside confounds me unless his team thought he could win the majority of those battles and stay the distance. Cotto’s camp had not solved the holes in his defense against the uppercut, he still leaned forward with his hands around his eyes.
What if he had clinched and waited for the break on even half of those inside exchanges, would he have had more left towards the end?
Not often did he clinch with Margarito at all, instead choosing to weather the storm that the Tornado brought to the inside by countering. Cotto even set traps of his own by bringing the fight to the inside where in the beginning he won many of those exchanges with a brilliant left hook but he could have just as easily set those in the center where his better movement would give him an exit when the tide turned.
Many times along the ropes Miguel showed us he could slip the jab and right of Margarito and he just as easily could have slipped them in the center of the ring. Instead of slipping those long range punches and countering then getting out of dodge, he allowed Margarito in all the way where he could throw those uppercuts and body shots. Had he countered the longer shots and moved before Antonio could get off those uppercuts and avoided even a medium amount of the body shots, he would have retained more energy.
He created too much distance when moving away from the pressuring Margarito and surrendered the center of the ring from the beginning of the fight. Cotto did in several long strides for five -ounds what two or three steps laterally would have accomplished just as easily and underutilized his superior speed and ability to counter the slower Mexican champion there instead of on the ropes. The choice to fight backwards rather than laterally not only took some of the steam off his punches but took more energy from his legs.
I was baffled as to where Cotto’s famed body work went to for this fight. Working some more of the body may have taken a step from Antonio in the later rounds.
Not once in the fight did I see Cotto attempt to spin his opponent and reverse the advantage of the ropes preventing movement. Cotto showed that he has strength though not equally as much as Antonio but close enough that clinching and getting somewhat more physical along the ropes would have taken more steam from Antonio.
Yes, Margarito wore him down but Cotto wore himself out as well . There was little cause to absorb as much punishment on the inside from the body blows as Cotto did, fact is there was little reason to allow the fight to go inside so often.
The recent report given by Mark Vester from the Cotto camp explains some of the reasons why Cotto had trouble with getting back into the center of the ring and the effects on him from the broken nose. Cotto gave up the center of the ring though almost from the start which was not a good strategic move. Miguel’s camp may just be on the right track with their explanation regarding the use of medicine to stop the bleeding causing him to breath from his mouth after the broken nose thus the following bodywork of Margarito having an even greater effect.
At this moment I have little doubt in my mind that Cotto has the ability to defeat Margarito with an adjusted game plan and revised training regime. Perhaps bringing a trainer onto the team that could enhance his boxing skills, work on balance and footwork would go along way to making the rematch an even more exciting fight.
The talk of fighting the rematch by the end of the year may be just that, because Cotto will need months to heal and prepare, perhaps another win under him to regain some confidence in his abilities, and live action to work some of the changes that he will need to put in place to defeat Margarito. Early spring may be the soonest this fight can be done.
What Cotto did do in this fight is make me a bigger believer in his defeat than I was in his string of victories. For the first time in a long while we have two fighters, one from Mexico, and the other from Puerto Rico, who can come together for a potentially historical rematch, and even a future trilogy.
My money is on Cotto in the second installment of “The Battle”
Keith Terceira is UBC North American Chairman and Vice President, Daily contributor to The Morning Show with Billy C at www.GoFightlLive.tv , and weekly analyst for the TalkinBoxing radio broadcasts.