..COTTO-MARGARITO: My Personal Breakdown...

[THe TRiNiTY]

TALE OF THE TAPE
Antonio Margarito - NAME - Miguel Cotto
30 - AGE - 27
5'11" - HEIGHT - 5'7"
73" - REACH - 67"
Orthodox - STANCE - Orthodox

WHO HAVE THEY BEATEN :
ANTONIO MARGARITO : At this particular point, his five biggest fights would be against; Andrew Lewis (TKO2), Kermit Cintron (TKO5), Joshua Clottey (UD12), Paul Williams (LOST UD12), Kermit Cintron (KO6). He's 4(3) - 1 out of his biggest fights and has also had fights with Daniel Santos (twice), and a very faded Frankie Randall. His record stands at 36(26) - 5 - 0. His only significant losses coming to Santos (from cuts due to an accidental headbutt) and Paul Williams. His opponents have a combined record of 893 - 174 - 24.


MIGUEL COTTO : Cotto has fought a pretty decent list of opponents, including his five biggest fights with; Ricardo Torres (KO7), Paul Malignaggi (UD12), Carlos Quintana (TKO5), Zab Judah (TKO11), Shane Mosley (UD12). He's 5(3) - 0 in his biggest fights and also has wins over Carlos Maussa, Lovemore N'Dou, DeMarcus Corley and Alfonzo Gomez. His record stands at 32(26) - 0 - 0. He has no losses. His opponents have a combined record of 746 - 146 - 18.


STRENGTH / ADVANTAGES :
ANTONIO MARGARITO : As a TRUE welter and roughly 4 to 5 inches taller, he's the naturally bigger guy. He has the reach advantage aswell, even though he fits on the inside more than not. He's only older than Cotto by a couple of years so he's still in his prime. Coming off a VERY impressive win against a quality opponent. Great body puncher with both hands and can take a GREAT shot. Has incredible stamina, able to have an incredible workrate, while throwing punches in bunches.

MIGUEL COTTO : He's the naturally faster guy, with great footwork. Better head-movement and a much improved defense. He has the ability to switch fairly successfully from orthodox to southpaw. Has a very impressive body attack and has recovered well any time he's been hurt. Always seems to find a way to win. His shots have gotten shorter and a bit more crisp with better technique and experience. Fought a decent opponent in dominating fashion for his last bout. Very good body attacker.


WEAKNESSES :
ANTONIO MARGARITO : He has a tendancy to get hit with too many shots. He CAN be a bleeder. Has decent power but has very wide and relatively slow shots. CAN be hurt, but usually by bigger guys. His footwork leaves room for improvement and virtually has no head movement. Can be beaten by a hit and mover. Usually has one game plan and can struggle adapting mid-fight. Can seem one-dimensional at times.

MIGUEL COTTO : He SOMETIMES switches to southpaw when it wouldn't really benefit him. In the passed, he chose to slug it out when it wasn't to his advantage. For some rounds, he struggled to hit a moving target with Malignaggi and Judah. His chin isn't the best, but has improved since the move to 147. In his biggest fight with Shane Mosley, he took the last three rounds off, which could hurt him in SOME fights, and could have even hurt him in THAT fight with different judges. Can be easy to hit with uppercuts.

QUESTIONS : So the questions going into this fight are huge. Would either fighter overlook the other with Oscar waiting in the wings? how would Cotto do against a TRUE BONAFIDE welterweight in his prime? Can Margarito deal with the technique and speed of Miguel? With this being Margarito's biggest fight, will he deal with this aspect of it very well? What role with Cotto try to play in this fight, since he has more of an option, the agressor or the boxer? If Margarito hurts Cotto, can he finish him? Can Cotto box well enough to hold Margarito off of him? Can Cotto hurt Margarito to the body? Can Margarito hurt Cotto to the body? Will Margaritos many wars finally catch up to him?

MY PREDICTION : This would be a very tense and exciting fight. I think Cotto is smart enough at this point in his career to pick the role of the boxer. The first few rounds would go to Cotto and though he might win them clearly, he'll be trying his hardest to win them. It'd be very close, in terms of the punches. He'll just make it look easier than it is. Around the fourth, Margarito will pick it up and connect with something to get Miguels respect. When Cotto comes in around the 6th or so, he'll get caught by a Margarito uppercut and probably hit the canvas. He'll get up and make it to the bell. Margarito will win the next couple of rounds while Cotto tries to recover and stays back a bit. Margarito will start missing a bit more and begin to tire, but not much. Just enough for Cotto to pick it up with clean punching and effective movement. He'll sit down on his punches in the 10th and 11th rounds and win them clearly. The 12th will be a safety-first round for Cotto, with the fight in the bag, but he'll close strong. It could be somewhere around 116-112 but it'll be a very close fight. Nonetheless.....

Miguel Cotto, by UD12.



Lol.... I could be DEAD wrong, and I wouldn't be surprised. Lol.

Vote. Discuss.

[Greatwhitehope]

Seems pretty right too me. I think Cotto won't go down though.

[THe TRiNiTY]

Seems pretty right too me. I think Cotto won't go down though.

Fair enough. He just has a dencancy to come in his his head down and get caught by an uppercut here and there. Margarito loves that punch. He lands it right, on just the right spot and my prediction is ENTIRELY wrong.

[mikec]

Pretty good but Cotto didnt take off the last 3 rounds of the Mosley fight, he just changed his gameplan and if im correct even won some of those rounds on the judges scorecards. but anyways Cotto wont go down and Marg wont either.

I see Cotto winning 12UD making it look fairly easy with some moments entertaing...... I think we will see Cotto as versatille as ever and Marg looking so one dimentional.

Honestly do you really think the Cotto that we saw against Mosley and Gomez is gonna sit in front of a bigger slugger and go toe-to toe?

[Silencers]

The breakdown is about right, I agree with most of it.

[Shalafi]

Not a bad breakdown, un-biased and well written. Let me just add one thing in this though, even if Cotto boxes his way to a win, there is about an 110% chance that he is hitting the canvas at least ONCE in this fight. However, that being said I still favor Margarito to win this fight by TKO in the mid to late rounds.

[THe TRiNiTY]

Pretty good but Cotto didnt take off the last 3 rounds of the Mosley fight, he just changed his gameplan and if im correct even won some of those rounds on the judges scorecards. but anyways Cotto wont go down and Marg wont either.

I see Cotto winning 12UD making it look fairly easy with some moments entertaing...... I think we will see Cotto as versatille as ever and Marg looking so one dimentional.

Honestly do you really think the Cotto that we saw against Mosley and Gomez is gonna sit in front of a bigger slugger and go toe-to toe?

I don't. Which is why I think he could get caught with a shot he doesn't see. He comes in head down, arms wide enough to get hit by one of Tonys favorite shots, an uppercut. He might not fall, like I said but it's possible. I'd bet MONEY that Margarito never hits the canvas. It'll LOOK easier for Cotto than it is, but he could still touch the canvas. I think both might look impressive though with Margo taking Cotto to his limits.

For the record, I think he took off the rounds against Mosley in the sense that his approach switched and he was less aggressive. he won one or 2 of the last 3 rounds, but I happen to think he lost 2 of the 3. Reason being that he dictated the pace and action, but got caught more than he should have. He won the 11th though, bu the 10th was close and I think he lost the 12th pretty clearly.

Nonetheless, I could see someone COMPLETELY disagreeing with me, the entire fight was close, so it's obviously gonna happen.

I think this fight is tougher than Mosley was simply due to styles.

[MANGLER]

No way Cotto will have more left in the late rds than Tony. Without a KO, the fight should be close to even after 8 rds, cuz neither guy will dominate 1 sidedly. But in the last third of the fight if it goes that long, I think Cotto will get swamped, just not necessarily KO'd. He can win the decision, but I see this fight about 60-40 in Tony's favor.

[Burner]

Good well thought out breakdown...my take is that I think Margarito can land a punch that could end Cottos night.

I have to go with Marg by KO.

[THe TRiNiTY]

No way Cotto will have more left in the late rds than Tony. Without a KO, the fight should be close to even after 8 rds, cuz neither guy will dominate 1 sidedly. But in the last third of the fight if it goes that long, I think Cotto will get swamped, just not necessarily KO'd. He can win the decision, but I see this fight about 60-40 in Tony's favor.

Fair enough, though I think Cotto has the ability to make Margarito miss more than he's used to which makes a fighter fade quicker. Not to say Tony will fade like THAT, but he could have less vigor in him than usual. I also think Cotto is very good at his conditioning and is able to preverse his energy for th late rounds. Nonetheless, I think it'll be close and I happen to think it's a pick 'em kind of fight.