Cotto-Marg Glove Size Issue

"The Nevada State Athletic Commission on Thursday amended its rule for glove size, putting Las Vegas into the hunt to land the much-anticipated July 26 bout between welterweight titleholder Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito. Cotto and Margarito have always fought in 8-ounce gloves and prefer to continue fighting in them. But under a provisional rule that has been used for the past couple of years in Nevada, boxers who weighed more than the 135-pound lightweight limit had to wear 10-ounce gloves. In virtually every other jurisdiction in the world, fighters wear 8-ounce gloves up to the 147-pound welterweight class with 10-ounce gloves being worn in fights over 147 pounds. Top Rank's Bob Arum, who promotes Puerto Rico's Cotto and Mexico's Margarito, wanted the fight to take place in 8-ounce gloves, as did the fighters, and pursued a meeting with the Nevada commission to talk it over. Without the change, Arum said he would not consider Las Vegas for the fight. He has been talking to New York's Madison Square Garden and Atlantic City, N.J., about hosting the HBO PPV fight. With the rule amended, there is a good chance the fight will take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Arum told ESPN.com. The Nevada commission had made the provisional rule in order to study a possible link between glove size and ring injuries. At Thursday's meeting, the commission voted 4-0 to allow lightweight and welterweight fighters the option of using 8- or 10-ounce gloves. If the camps can't agree, the default glove size will be 10 ounces, commission executive director Keith Kizer said. "We found no evidence that an 8-ounce glove would be significantly less safe than a 10-ounce glove in those weight classes," Kizer said. "We did the study. It's good that we did. Now, instead of the commission telling the boxers what they have to wear, we're giving the fighters a little more choice." Said Arum: "It means that Las Vegas has opened up as an option for the fight. The Cotto team is flying in to visit with me on Tuesday and then we'll have a decision. But the glove size was important. Both of them have always fought in 8-ounce gloves." Gloves aside, Arum wants the fight in Las Vegas because he believes it will improve the pay-per-view performance by attracting more West Coast media coverage and more interest from Mexican and Mexican-American fans. Many of the media members on the West Coast rarely travel east to cover fights. East Coast media members are more likely to go to Vegas to cover fights." Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.