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By Steve Kim - It was a good half-hour before newly minted WBA welterweight king Antonio Margarito would leave the ring inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday night after his career-defining victory over Miguel Cotto. After conducting his interviews for the various television outlets that had covered the event, he seemed to be doing boxing's version of a victory lap.
As a large throng of Mexican partisans stuck around, Margarito would acknowledge the fans on each side of the ring, receiving a loud ovation from his admirers. As he finally stepped down from the ring, despite the pitched battle he had just participated in, he would stop and pose for pictures with his adoring fans as he headed towards his dressing room. As flash bulbs popped and the fans jostled for position near the railing, Margarito, whose face wore the battle scars of a punishing night, smiled through it all. He was milking this for all it was worth.
The attention and admiration that was once showered on men like Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales is now reserved for him. No, there may never be another Julio Cesar Chavez - the Babe Ruth of Mexican legends, who was in attendance and watching a man who had once idolized him as a boy - but in walking down the Puerto Rican star, he became a bit of an icon himself. [details]
As a large throng of Mexican partisans stuck around, Margarito would acknowledge the fans on each side of the ring, receiving a loud ovation from his admirers. As he finally stepped down from the ring, despite the pitched battle he had just participated in, he would stop and pose for pictures with his adoring fans as he headed towards his dressing room. As flash bulbs popped and the fans jostled for position near the railing, Margarito, whose face wore the battle scars of a punishing night, smiled through it all. He was milking this for all it was worth.
The attention and admiration that was once showered on men like Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales is now reserved for him. No, there may never be another Julio Cesar Chavez - the Babe Ruth of Mexican legends, who was in attendance and watching a man who had once idolized him as a boy - but in walking down the Puerto Rican star, he became a bit of an icon himself. [details]
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