By Jhonny Gonzalez
Robert Garcia, trainer of Antonio Margarito, is very confident that everyone in New York's Madison Square Garden will witness the crowning of a new champion when his boxer defeats Miguel Cotto for the second time to capture the WBA junior middleweight title on Saturday night. Their first fight happened in July 2008 in the welterweight division. Margarito won the bout with an eleven round technical knockout.
Garcia says Margarito is a much better and stronger fighter at 154-pounds. The rematch takes place at a catch-weight of 153, which suits the Mexican fighter just fine. Garcia revealed that Margarito has been able to easily maintain his weight at 155-pounds with two daily meals and the boxer always stays hydrated.
"Antonio has certain advantages over Cotto and you will notice them on Saturday. Tony already beat him. He did it once and he knows how to do it. Cotto knows he will have a runaway train in front of him. In that first fight, Cotto was undefeated and he was well prepared, but Tony frustrated him and got him tired. Now, the same thing will happen again and things will go even worse," Garcia told Ray Alazaga.
"At 154 pounds, Margarito is comfortable and strong. In fact, before he started to train for this fight, Antonio was at 163 pounds. This time Cotto is older and not as fast. His best moment was at 147 and now he's at 154, against a fighter like Margarito who is very big, and he's going to feel more impact. When he lost to Mosley, he was enjoying his fame from the Cotto win and he partied. He blew up to 180-pounds and then it was very hard to get down to 147. Those people who think they are going to see the same result as the Mosley fight are going to be in for a big surprise."