It was a fight that turned one way and then, definitively and with crushing finality, the other. It left one boxer facing the first real questions of his career and the other seemingly looking at an unstoppable future. Within just a few months, however, the narrative had changed; the loser would rebuild and ultimately find himself in the Hall of Fame, while the winner’s name would become a byword for dishonesty and cheating.
Seventeen years ago this weekend, on July 26, 2008, Antonio Margarito, of Tijuana, Mexico, and Miguel Cotto, from Caguas, Puerto Rico, met at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas to establish welterweight supremacy. Cotto, a former 140-pound titleholder, held the WBA strap. In order to face him, Margarito had been forced to abdicate his IBF throne, to which he had recently ascended courtesy of a stoppage of Kermit Cintron.
Cotto was undefeated at 32-0, with 26 KOs, while Margarito brought a record of 36-5, also with 26 KOs, into the MGM Grand ring. Cotto was the betting favorite, but Margarito, renowned for his strength and toughness, was the upset pick of more than a few canny insiders. Hope was widespread for an explosive confrontation, although few, if any, could have predicted not only the way the fight ultimately unfolded but also the repercussions that eventually would ensue.
***
My first time watching Cotto fight was on the first card for which I had been credentialed, headlined by Shane Mosley’s controversial rematch win over Oscar De La Hoya. Cotto stopped Demetrio Ceballos that night; two fights later, I was ringside as he beat up and broke down Victoriano Sosa before stopping him in the fourth.
Top Rank’s Lee Samuels had told me of Cotto, prior to the Ceballos win, “We think he could be our next De La Hoya.” I didn’t see it at first, even after the comprehensive defeat of Ceballos; the win over Sosa, however, made me a fan. His body punches landed with such authority that evening that I found myself wincing as they found their target.
Over the next couple of years, Cotto walked through the likes of Lovemore N’dou, Kelson Pinto, Randall Bailey and Muhammad Abdullaev. Ricardo Torres threatened to upset the apple cart when he dropped Cotto in their 2005 tussle in Atlantic City, New Jersey, but Cotto stopped him in seven. Paulie Malignaggi was beaten up, Carlos Quintana swept aside and then Zab Judah and Mosley defeated in back-to-back outings at Madison Square Garden, which saw Cotto force his way onto most observers’ pound-for-pound lists.
No less an authority than Sugar Ray Leonard was enthused.
"I've been impressed with that young man for years," he told me prior to Cotto’s fight with Margarito. “He is like the Terminator. He has no expression.”
Unfortunately, that impassive nature carried over to his demeanor outside the ring, and it was there that comparisons with De La Hoya seemed especially inapt. The Golden Boy never missed a chance, when asked, to deliver a sound bite with a smile; Cotto seemed to regard the appearance of a microphone with the kind of enthusiasm most people reserve for an impacted wisdom tooth.
But that week in Las Vegas, Cotto seemed finally to be coming out of his shell. He willingly answered questions. He was increasingly comfortable speaking in English. He was relaxed and amenable. A couple of times, I saw him smile. He wasn’t exactly Chuckles the Clown, but he carried the confident air of a man without a hint of self-doubt. As I watched him that week, I thought I was watching boxing’s next big star.
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Antonio Margarito had taken a more winding path to reach this point. Whereas Cotto had been an Olympian, Margarito, like many Tijuana fighters, barely even dabbled with the amateur code before turning professional at the astonishingly tender age of 15. Unsurprisingly, he hit some roadblocks along the way, dropping decisions in three of his first 12 bouts. But he then rattled off 16 straight wins, including over former Julio Cesar Chavez Snr conqueror Frankie Randall and future middleweight champ Sergio Martinez, before challenging Daniel Santos for the WBO welterweight belt in July 2001.
A first-round head clash and a cut over the eye of “The Tijuana Tornado” made that challenge a mighty short one, but when Santos moved up in weight, Margarito won the vacant crown with a TKO of Antonio Diaz. He held the title through seven defenses, over four and a half years (including almost taking off Sebastian Lujan’s ear in a particularly bloody bout), before dropping it to Paul Williams in 2007.
Two more knockout wins, over Golden Johnson and then Cintron to take the IBF strap, followed before he signed to face Cotto.
***
If Cotto was quiet class, Margarito was a junkyard dog of a fighter, unafraid to be loud and lewd, and he was possessed of an iron chin and a two-fisted battering ram of an offense that ground his opponents to dust.
Over the first half of the fight, class told.
Cotto boxed and moved, firing off combinations and sliding out of the way of Margarito’s retorts. Time and again, Margarito ground forward, looking for a way in. Time and again, Cotto moved out of the firing line and responded with flurries from angles. Even when Margarito did land, such as with a right hand that momentarily stiffened the Puerto Rican in Round 5, Cotto slipped under every of his opponent’s follow-ups, even as Margarito had him seemingly trapped in the corner.
Halfway through the sixth round, I began composing my postfight report in my head.
“This was supposed to be Fight of the Year,” I anticipated writing. “The reason it wasn’t is because Miguel Cotto is that good.”
But the narrative was not yet complete.
Margarito may not have been landing much, but when he did land, he took a little bite out of Cotto. Slowly, if not initially surely, the Mexican was chipping away at his foe’s resistance.
Among those to pick Margarito prefight was boxing historian and bon vivant – and my future co-host of HBO prefight videos – Bert Sugar. One of the reasons he gave was the fighter’s toughness: “If lightning struck Margarito,” Sugar declared, “my money would be on Margarito.”
Another specifically referenced one of Cotto’s bad habits. The Puerto Rican, Sugar noted, not only had a tendency to retreat to the ropes, but he would often bend forward at the waist when he did so. That could be catnip to an uppercut-throwing monster like Margarito.
Sure enough, beginning in the sixth round and accelerating in the seventh and eighth, Margarito began to land with growing authority as Cotto’s legs grew heavier and his movement more stilted.
In the seventh, a Margarito uppercut clearly rocked Cotto, who was forced to hold on. Margarito landed a series of right hands, and when Cotto broke free, he spat a glob of blood onto the canvas.
Cotto tried to stay moving, but his punches were increasingly attempts to just keep his oncoming opponent away. Far from demonstrating his superiority as a boxer, Cotto was now trying to limit the punishment Margarito meted out and survive to the end.
Finally, in the 11th, the dam broke. After Margarito landed a crushing combination, Cotto dropped to a knee in a corner. He rose to his feet, but after referee Kenny Bayless counted to eight and confirmed Cotto wanted to continue, the fighter took a knee again before Margarito could land any more.
At that moment, Cotto’s uncle and trainer threw in the towel. Cotto had suffered his first loss, and the welterweight division had a new king.
Referencing the fact that Floyd Mayweather Jnr had reportedly been offered and refused $8 million to face Margarito, promoter Bob Arum declared, “He’s a guy everyone has ducked for years, and now he’s here saying, ‘Come and get me.’”
Margarito’s future looked bright. But storm clouds were on the horizon.
***
Six months later, Margarito faced Mosley at Staples Center in Los Angeles and was beaten badly. Mosley tore into him from the opening bell, landing power shots almost at will until even Margarito’s previously impregnable chin cracked and Mosley secured a ninth-round TKO.
Of greater significance to his career even than his first knockout loss was what happened beforehand. Mosley’s trainer, Naazim Richardson, had spotted what he thought was white powder in Margarito’s handwraps. The wraps were confiscated by the California commission, which at a subsequent hearing suspended Margarito and trainer Javier Capetillo for a year for adding what was described as a plaster-of-paris-like substance to the wraps.
Suspicion immediately fell on some of Margarito’s other wins, including the one over Cotto. And although there was no evidence that any previous Margarito victory merited an asterisk, the court of public opinion soon rendered its verdict. Cotto, unsurprisingly, was convinced the circumstances of his defeat to Margarito were nefarious, dangerous and unjust.
***
Following his suspension, Margarito returned to the ring in May 2010 with a tune-up win before taking on and being battered by Manny Pacquiao. Although Margarito took his pound of flesh, he was no match for Pacquiao’s hand speed and devastating combinations. In addition to a unanimous decision loss, Margarito suffered a broken orbital bone.
So great was the damage to his eye, there was uncertainty about whether he could be licensed to box again. Not until a year after the Pacquiao loss, in November 2011, did he step back into the ring. His opponent was Miguel Cotto.
***
The rest of Cotto’s career would be one of peaks and troughs. After two comeback wins, he took on Pacquiao and, after four rounds of sustained back-and-forth action, was worn down and eventually stopped in the 12th. He dominated Yuri Foreman and Ricardo Mayorga, and gave Mayweather one of his toughest fights.
He lost to Austin Trout in what was always a terrible style matchup for Cotto. But then he partnered with Pacquiao’s Hall of Fame trainer, Freddie Roach, and capped his career with a knockout of Sergio Martinez to become lineal middleweight champion of the world.
It is unlikely, however, that any win ever felt as good as the rematch victory over Margarito. Targeting his opponent's damaged eye relentlessly and with a cold hatred, Cotto forced a doctor’s stoppage after nine rounds. As the crowd exulted, Cotto walked to the middle of the ring and stared down his stricken foe, as he exorcised the demons of that night in Las Vegas and soaked up the sweet sensation of revenge.
Kieran Mulvaney has written, broadcast and podcast about boxing for HBO, Showtime, ESPN and Reuters, among other outlets. He presently co-hosts the “Fighter Health Podcast” with Dr. Margaret Goodman. He also writes regularly for National Geographic, has written several books on the Arctic and Antarctic, including most recently Arctic Passages: Ice, Exploration, and the Battle for Power at the Top of the World, and is at his happiest hanging out with wild polar bears. His website is www.kieranmulvaney.com.
