Post Fight Analysis: Margarito vs Cotto

[We want Floyd]

First off, I would like to congratulate both fighters on a great fight.

From the opening round, I was confident this fight was going to unfold exactly as I expected. Miguel was going to work his four corners defense, and Margarito was going to be massively outclassed and brutalized.

Needless to say, I was right.

However, what I did not expect was for Miguel Cotto to make two fatal mistakes.

1) Neglecting body work.
2) Trying to knock Antonio Margarito out.

I was astonished! Miguel Cotto of all people should know the importance of body work. Infact, the momentum of the fight changed in the middle rounds when Antonio Margarito started to invest in a solid body attack.

By neglecting to invest in a solid attack to the body, Miguel Cotto did not tax Margarito's stamina, and did not limit his punch output in the later rounds.

Boxing 101 tells us that if you are on the ropes and your opponent is throwing punches, you go to the body. It brings down your opponents hands, and stops the barrage. Miguel Cotto instead traded upstairs, which brings us to our next critical error on the part of Miguel Cotto.

Miguel Cotto tried to knock Antonio Margarito out. The one fact that was not disputed in the lead up to this fight was Antonio Margarito's chin. Unloading powerful punches on the chin of Margarito is simply wasting your energy.

This is what Miguel Cotto did. Every punch was thrown with malice and knockout written all over it. Round after round, Miguel Cotto WASTED his energy throwing HARD punches at Margarito's chin.

There IS a reason why classically boxers are not punchers. It is not that they cannot punch, it is that in order to have the energy box and stay away for 12 rounds, you cannot waste your energy trying to knock your opponent out.

Miguel fell into this trap. He tried to knock Margarito out while boxing. The result? Cotto ran out of energy in the later rounds.

I do not fell that Cotto running out of energy had much if anything to do with Margarito's work rate as Cotto appeared relaxed, and expended very little energy defending against the onslaught. He simply punched himself out.

Had Miguel invested his energy in a body attack, I feel the fight would have taken a dramatically different path.

While Margarito won, and I give him all the credit in the world, he showed why he will never be able to beat Paul Williams.

Round after rounds Margarito did the same thing. Round after rounds Cotto brutally beat him. Round after round, Margarito failed to adapt. Against a fighter like Paul Williams who can sustain his work rate for all 12 rounds, Margarito has no answers. He does not adapt, and is inherently unskilled.

With that said. Margarito is one ****ing tough son of a *****. A true WARRIOR. Nobody is going to knock him out, and anyone that tries is going to lose.

In order to beat Margarito, you have to take a page out of the book of Paul Williams. Pity Pat your way to victory.

I agree with most of your observations, especially the body attack being non-existent. I also think that Cotto spent alot of energy "boxing", he moved around way too much, I would've liked for him to have stayed in the pocket in the early rounds to pace himself. I mean, he was doing it on the ropes, making Margarita miss wildly, but he simply pulled a DLH when he fought Tito.

All that movement will simply tire anyone out. I knew Cotto was gonna take the early rounds, but all the lateral movement he was doing in the earlier rounds was gonna catch up to him, especially with a stamina freak in Margarita.

[SalvaDominicano]

You've got to be kidding me. Taking credit away from Margarito when he succeeded to outwork and, not outland, but outpunch a very ready and game Cotto. Cotto fought and went out like a champion. Margarito came to take the title from the champion. He won the fight with his determination, conditioning, and hunger for the title of welterweight king as Cotto once was. Cotto lost because he is Miguel Cotto, the exciting tactician/brawler/boxer that we all know and love. If he were to hit and clinch then guess what? He is no more exciting then Hopkins or Mayweather, not taking anything away from their skill. As for the body attack, watch the fight again. Margarito has very tight body defense and had he gone to the body as you all say he should, he would've been tagged very hard in the process many MORE times. So please, give credit where credit is due and stop making excuses for what they should've done. They fought like champions and in the end the better man one. That is all...

[!! Shawn]

I agree with most of your observations, especially the body attack being non-existent. I also think that Cotto spent alot of energy "boxing", he moved around way too much, I would've liked for him to have stayed in the pocket in the early rounds to pace himself. I mean, he was doing it on the ropes, making Margarita miss wildly, but he simply pulled a DLH when he fought Tito.

All that movement will simply tire anyone out. I knew Cotto was gonna take the early rounds, but all the lateral movement he was doing in the earlier rounds was gonna catch up to him, especially with a stamina freak in Margarita.

Cotto's movement is not really tiring. He actually uses it as a rest and to control the pace of the fight. But you are right. Towards the end of the fight, the pure retreating he was doing was not doing him any favors.

However, his four corners defense is very efficient. When he moves from one rope to the other in a leftward pattern.

[deliveryman]

And the fight came out just as I expected it to.

Cotto landing the cleaner, nicer punches early on with Margarito's chin keeping him in it, and eventually his workrate winning him the fight.

Cotto is not a good enough pure boxer to keep away from Margarito for 12 rounds.

[TintaBoricua]

First off, I would like to congratulate both fighters on a great fight.

From the opening round, I was confident this fight was going to unfold exactly as I expected. Miguel was going to work his four corners defense, and Margarito was going to be massively outclassed and brutalized.

Needless to say, I was right.

However, what I did not expect was for Miguel Cotto to make two fatal mistakes.

1) Neglecting body work.
2) Trying to knock Antonio Margarito out.

I was astonished! Miguel Cotto of all people should know the importance of body work. Infact, the momentum of the fight changed in the middle rounds when Antonio Margarito started to invest in a solid body attack.

By neglecting to invest in a solid attack to the body, Miguel Cotto did not tax Margarito's stamina, and did not limit his punch output in the later rounds.

Boxing 101 tells us that if you are on the ropes and your opponent is throwing punches, you go to the body. It brings down your opponents hands, and stops the barrage. Miguel Cotto instead traded upstairs, which brings us to our next critical error on the part of Miguel Cotto.

Miguel Cotto tried to knock Antonio Margarito out. The one fact that was not disputed in the lead up to this fight was Antonio Margarito's chin. Unloading powerful punches on the chin of Margarito is simply wasting your energy.

This is what Miguel Cotto did. Every punch was thrown with malice and knockout written all over it. Round after round, Miguel Cotto WASTED his energy throwing HARD punches at Margarito's chin.

There IS a reason why classically boxers are not punchers. It is not that they cannot punch, it is that in order to have the energy box and stay away for 12 rounds, you cannot waste your energy trying to knock your opponent out.

Miguel fell into this trap. He tried to knock Margarito out while boxing. The result? Cotto ran out of energy in the later rounds.

I do not fell that Cotto running out of energy had much if anything to do with Margarito's work rate as Cotto appeared relaxed, and expended very little energy defending against the onslaught. He simply punched himself out.

Had Miguel invested his energy in a body attack, I feel the fight would have taken a dramatically different path.

While Margarito won, and I give him all the credit in the world, he showed why he will never be able to beat Paul Williams.

Round after rounds Margarito did the same thing. Round after rounds Cotto brutally beat him. Round after round, Margarito failed to adapt. Against a fighter like Paul Williams who can sustain his work rate for all 12 rounds, Margarito has no answers. He does not adapt, and is inherently unskilled.

With that said. Margarito is one ****ing tough son of a *****. A true WARRIOR. Nobody is going to knock him out, and anyone that tries is going to lose.

In order to beat Margarito, you have to take a page out of the book of Paul Williams. Pity Pat your way to victory.

I agree with you in the bolded texts and especially in the red.

[!! Shawn]

And the fight came out just as I expected it to.

Cotto landing the cleaner, nicer punches early on with Margarito's chin keeping him in it, and eventually his workrate winning him the fight.

Cotto is not a good enough pure boxer to keep away from Margarito for 12 rounds.

Yes he is. He demonstrated this for the first 6 rounds of the fight. Had Cotto metered his energy better, he would have pitched a virtual shutout.

[MANGLER]

Cotto boxed effectively for a while, but no way he was gonna avoid warfare all night. Tony was gonna make him slug whether he wanted to or not, and that was his undoing.

[!! Shawn]

Cotto boxed effectively for a while, but no way he was gonna avoid warfare all night. Tony was gonna make him slug whether he wanted to or not, and that was his undoing.

I agree, he would have to engage in spots, but if he had invested in a body attack, and metered his energy by not trying to knock Margarito out with every punch he threw, he would have had plenty of fuel, in the tank to do so.

[Haglerwins]

Margarito was tagging that body early people. It just became very noticeable in effect by the mid rounds! It's what sent Cotto into full box and retreat mode around the ring in the beginning. Margarito was never brutalized, he wasn't even buzzed. Paul Williams method of beating Margarito is in no way a blueprint either, he almost drowned in that fight despite throwing a kajillion punches that were almost entirely meant for scoring purposes! Paul has to tweak his last gameplan in a rematch because it won't work again as is with Margarito coming out of the gate throwing and practically ignoring his opponent's punches now.

Cotto showed part of the keys to beating Marg handily if you're not a big Welter but have some power imo.

- It takes circling footwork away from his planting, big looping punches and uppercuts. He can't seem to work without getting set. Floyd would keep him off balance like that all fight.

- a respectable quick jab or straight shot to create initial seperation.. and then you go back to moving and looking for those openings that will make him take a brief step back on initial contact to get a few off. Basically you have to fight him like a scared rabbit.

Body work against Marg is out if you're a smaller welter I think. You expose yourself to taking Antonio's hard uppercuts to the gut yourself if you try to go in there and establish an attack.

If you're big and strong you have an additional method of getting separation from Marg by twirling him off you from a clinch.

[Silencers]

I think Margarito really mind ****s people. He is so incredibly easy to hit upstairs that people just get ****** into beating on his face trying to knock him out. I honestly can't remember one fighter that put forth a good body attack against Margo. I fully expected Cotto to do it. I have no idea why he didn't other than what I just mentioned. Margo is so easy to hit upstairs people take it.

If Cotto had expended all the energy on a body attack, I believe we would be singing a different tune right now.

Good job to Margarito for getting the win, but he did not win that fight, Cotto lost it. There was no Margarito breaking Cotto down, or Cotto getting punished.

The whole fight was Cotto outclassing Margarito. Cotto lost that fight. It is 100% his fault. He failed to implement that game plan that was needed to win.

Hopefully Cotto learns a valuable lesson from this fight. It was a learning experience because he didn't take that much punishment, but he learned a valuable lesson about conserving energy, and choosing which punches you need to throw.

It could have been either Cotto headhunting Margarito or it could have been Cotto being worried about ducking right into one of Margarito's uppercuts when he goes to the body.

I agree that the result could have been different if Cotto had invested in a body attack early but what's done is done.

I thought Magarito managed to wear Cotto out by pressuring him and was able to wear Cotto down in the latter stages because of the aforementioned pressure and some nice body shots that he landed.

I do think that Cotto has the necessary skills to beat Margarito and that was evidenced in the early portion of the fight and that he could have done a few key things to Margarito that would have earned him the victory but it's 100% his fault, Margarito's determination, chin and never ending pressure had something to do with it as well.

He does need to learn to pick his shots better and to make use of his body attack, which he has gotten away from a little bit it seems because he didn't use his body attack that much against Mosley either.