Antonio Margarito Stops Miguel Cotto

Antonio Margarito stopped Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas at 2:05 of the eleventh round in a incredible battle of attrition, to win the WBA Welterweight title. It was great fight. That may be an understatement.

Like a big cat, relentless in his pursuit of his next meal, uncompromising, hungry, unstoppable, unwavering, Antonio Margarito ate Miguel Cotto alive. Despite what Jim Lampley and Max Kellerman were saying, Cotto did not completely dominate the early rounds. It was give and take until the six round when Margarito found his range, his tempo and his will. It was an inevitable ending.

He didn’t just win the fight, he systematically broke down Cotto’s will. In the seventh round, I saw surrender in Cotto’s eyes, and where in the earlier rounds Cotto was punching with authority, from the seventh round on his punches were thrown with desperation. His will was gone, only his pride kept him up, and sadly even that would go in a few rounds.

No, Margarito didn’t just beat him, he took his manhood. Carrying all of Mexico on his back, he out manned him, out gunned him. In a epic battle of machismo, it was Antonio that was left standing. In the end Cotto surrendered meekly on his knees, a thoroughly beaten man. Sadly his wife and son were in the crowd and saw it unfold. No son should have to see his father lose in such a way.

In much the same way the same way Julio Cesar Chavez broke down Meldrick Taylor (I don’t care what the scorecards were) and Edwin Rosario, Margarito wore down Cotto. He patiently stuck with his game plan and it paid off. Cotto had his moments in the fight, to be sure. He was countering much of what Antonio was throwing, but he just could not stop the forward momentum of Margarito, who has a chin that would have made Rocky Marciano proud. In the battle of the irresistible force against the immovable object, the object moved.