The Battle (boxing)
Encyclopedia
The Battle was a professional boxing
match between World Boxing Association
(WBA) welterweight
champion Miguel Cotto
and former International Boxing Federation
(IBF) and World Boxing Organization
(WBO) welterweight champion Antonio Margarito
. The WBA welterweight title bout took place on July 26, 2008, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas
, and resulted in an eleventh round technical knockout victory for Margarito.
Both men had previously fought on April 12 and emerged victorious, thus clearing the way for a July 26 match between the two boxers. It was Cotto's first fight in Las Vegas since December 2004. According to promoter Bob Arum
, the bout took place in Las Vegas to promote Cotto to a new audience while also appealing to Margarito's Mexican American
fans in California. Cotto entered the fight as The Ring
magazine's #1 ranked boxer in the welterweight division and #6 in their pound-for-pound rankings. Margarito entered the match as The Ring magazine's #4 ranked welterweight. Press conferences were held in Mexico
, Los Angeles
, New York City, and Puerto Rico
to promote the world title bout.
Cotto and Margarito's aggressive boxing styles led to much praise from multiple boxing writers. Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports
named it the third-best boxing match of 2008 and the fight generated 450,000 pay-per-view buys, the third-highest in 2008 for a boxing match. Margarito was later suspected of cheating in this bout after controversy arose over his use of hand wraps after his bout with Shane Mosley.
After making six successful defenses of the World Boxing Organization
(WBO) light welterweight
title, Cotto moved up in weight class to the welterweight
division and defeated Carlos Quintana
on December 2, 2006 to win the World Boxing Association
(WBA) welterweight title. Cotto's first title defense came against mandatory challenger Oktay Urkal
in a bout that took place on March 3, 2007, at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum
in San Juan, Puerto Rico
. A mandatory challenger is a boxer who is chosen by a boxing organization to fight for their title. If the champion decides not to defend the title against the mandatory challenger, the boxing organization strips him of his title. In attendance for the bout was former undisputed welterweight champion Zab Judah
, who was expected to be Cotto's next opponent as long as Cotto defeated Urkal and Judah won his fight in April. Cotto displayed a dominant performance against Urkal, eventually to the point where Urkal's corner retired in the eleventh round. On April 13, 2007, Judah's match with journeyman
boxer Ruben Galvan ended in a no contest
after a severe cut opened up around Galvan's hairline, which was ruled to have been caused by Judah's elbow. Despite the no contest, the bout between Cotto and Judah went ahead as planned, taking place at Madison Square Garden
in New York City
on June 9, 2007. In front of a sellout crowd of 20,658, Cotto defeated Judah by technical knockout in the eleventh round.
In his next fight, Cotto fought former three-division champion Shane Mosley
on November 10, 2007. Mosley had originally set his sights on fighting World Boxing Council
(WBC) welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather, Jr., but Mayweather was in negotiations to fight Ricky Hatton
, and on July 28, 2007, Mayweather and Hatton officially agreed to the fight. With the two fights scheduled to take place a month apart from each other, the media speculated that the winners of the two fights would likely fight each other next. Cotto was successful in his third title defense, defeating Mosley by unanimous decision
at Madison Square Garden in New York City, while one month later, Mayweather defeated Hatton by tenth round technical knockout at the MGM Grand
in Las Vegas
. Following his victory, Mayweather announced that he would take a two year layoff from boxing to focus on his promotional company. However, one month later, Mayweather began negotiations for a rematch with Oscar De La Hoya
. With several top welterweight fighters unavailable, Cotto agreed to fight Alfonso Gomez
, a fighter most notable for appearing on the first season of The Contender. The match took place on April 12, 2008, at Boardwalk Hall
in Atlantic City, New Jersey
, and resulted in a victory for Cotto after the ring doctor stopped the fight after round five.
ended in a no contest after the fighters' heads collided in the first round and a deep cut was opened over the corner of Margarito's right eyebrow. He would get another opportunity to win the WBO title on March 16, 2002 against Antonio Diaz. Margarito defeated Diaz by tenth round technical knockout to win the title, which had been vacated by Santos. Seven months later, he made his first successful defense of the WBO title with a unanimous decision victory over Danny Perez. His second title defense came against former WBA welterweight champion Andrew Lewis at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
in Las Vegas on February 8, 2003. Margarito won the fight by second round technical knockout after a significant amount of punches from Margarito led to a stoppage from the referee. On January 31, 2004, at the Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona
, Margarito defeated Hercules Kyvelos
by second round technical knockout in his third title defense. After the fight, he discussed his interest in a major fight with Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley, or Fernando Vargas
.
In his next fight, Margarito moved up in weight class for a rematch with Daniel Santos, who possessed the WBO junior welterweight title. The fight took place on September 11, 2004 and ended in a technical decision
victory for Santos after Margarito was cut over the right eye by an unintentional headbutt
in round six. After round nine it was ruled Margarito could not continue, so the fight was decided on the scorecards and Santos led 86–85, 87–84 on two cards while Margarito was ahead 86–85 on the third scorecard. After the loss, Margarito moved back down in weight to defend his WBO welterweight title against Sebastian Lujan on February 18, 2005. He won the fight by technical knockout in the tenth round and set up a fight against Kermit Cintron
, who was in attendance for Margarito's fight with Lujan. On April 23, 2005, Margarito defeated the less experienced Cintron, knocking him down four times en route to a technical knockout victory in the fifth round at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Margarito's next fight took place on February 18, 2006, when he defeated Manuel Gomez by technical knockout in just 74 seconds in Las Vegas.
After Floyd Mayweather, Jr. defeated Zab Judah on April 8, 2006, he rejected an $8 million offer from promoter Bob Arum
to fight Margarito on August 12, 2006, citing a hand injury as the reason he did not take the bout. On December 2, 2006, Margarito successfully defended the WBO welterweight title for the seventh time with a unanimous decision victory over Joshua Clottey
. On July 14, 2007, Margarito fought Paul Williams
in his eighth title defense at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California
. With a victory, Margarito would set up himself up for a welterweight title unification match against Miguel Cotto in the autumn, but Margarito lost to Williams by unanimous decision. Four months later, Margarito knocked out Golden Johnson
in the first round at Madison Square Garden in New York City. On April 12, 2008, Margarito had a rematch with Kermit Cintron, who held the IBF welterweight title. The match took place on the undercard of Cotto's fight with Alfonso Gomez and Margarito knocked out Cintron in the sixth round to win the title.
Both fighters' victories on April 12 cleared the way for a July 26 showdown between Cotto and Margarito. The WBA welterweight title fight took place in MGM Grand in Las Vegas, marking the first time Cotto headlined a Las Vegas card. It was Cotto's first fight in Las Vegas since December 11, 2004, on the undercard of Vitali Klitschko
's bout with Danny Williams
. According to Bob Arum, the match took place in Las Vegas to promote Cotto to a new audience while also appealing to Margarito's Mexican American
fans in California. The Las Vegas notion gained momentum in the previous month when the Nevada Athletic Commission
amended its provisional rules on glove size, allowing welterweights to wear 8 ounce (227 g) gloves instead of the previously mandated 10 ounce (284 g) gloves. Nearly every other boxing jurisdiction in the United States allows welterweights to fight with 8 ounce gloves, and both Cotto and Margarito likely would have refused to fight in Las Vegas without their usual glove size. Margarito had to vacate the IBF welterweight title after the IBF mandated him to defend the title against Joshua Clottey
. Press conferences were held in Mexico
, Los Angeles
, New York City, and Puerto Rico
to promote the world title bout.
Cotto entered the fight as The Ring
magazine's #1 ranked boxer in the welterweight division and #6 in their pound-for-pound rankings. Margarito entered the match as The Ring magazine's #4 ranked welterweight. The official judges for the bout were Dave Moretti, Jerry Roth, and Glen Hamada, and the referee was Kenny Bayless. Serving as the ring announcer for the fight was Michael Buffer
. Promoted by Arum's Top Rank Boxing
promotional company, the match aired on Home Box Office
(HBO) Pay-Per-View
. Cotto entered the fight as a two-to-one betting favorite, and the official attendance for the event was 10,477. Both Margarito and Cotto weighed in at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds (66.7 kg).
said that "I'm asking for one of my top 10 fights in my 22 years of calling fights on television". Dave Larzelere of Sporting News wrote that the bout had "the potential to be one of those epic Irresistible Force vs. Immoveable Object kind of battles that we talk about forever afterwards, à la Hagler/Hearns
or Corrales
/Castillo
". Jeff Haney of the Las Vegas Sun
described the fight as "not only the sport’s most promising matchup of the year. It also conjures memories of past fights in which regional or national pride was at stake", noting the rivalry
between Mexico and Puerto Rico. The Arizona Republic wrote, "Cotto, an impassive and intimidating Puerto Rican, and Margarito, a patient and tough Mexican, are another chapter in a rivalry rich in legends and still productive". Yahoo! Sports
writer Kevin Iole felt that the boxing match would provide a performance similar to that of the fight between Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales, which was named fight of the year
by The Ring magazine.
. Blood started descending from Cotto's nose, but did not discourage him from closing the round by landing a punch upon Margarito. Mobility represented the key for Cotto in the third round, efficaciously blending boxing and brawling while trying to minimize the blood flow from his nose and a small cut over his left eye. Margarito continued targeting the body, but drew two distinguish warnings for low blows
in the span of less than a minute. Margarito closed the gap sufficiency in the fourth round by landing a right uppercut and attacking Cotto's body to slow him down. In the fifth round, Cotto provided plenty of lateral movement which frustrated Margarito. Cotto persisted on the move and would land a flurry of punches prior to directly escaping harm's way. Margarito landed a straight right hand that had Cotto temporarily unsteady with ten seconds to go, but Cotto eluded all of the ensuing punches until the final bell.
While Margarito did not land a lot of punches, he remained the more engaged fighter in the sixth round. A left hook to the body had Cotto on the defensive early in the seventh round, but he was able to fend off additional difficulty. A right hand from Cotto slowed Margarito, but he returned with punches that forced Cotto to clinch. Margarito commanded the bulk of the round, throwing 130 punches in the round according to Compubox
. Cotto was advocated by his corner in between rounds to stay off the ropes. He obliged, providing lateral movement throughout the round but with approximately 30 seconds left, Margarito was able to trap Cotto in a corner, but Cotto managed to escape. It was more of the same in the ninth round, with Cotto going back and forth between southpaw
and conventional stance. Margarito continued charging ahead, although Cotto would counterpunch sufficiency to avoid Margarito. The same pattern applied as in the previous two rounds, with Margarito charging forward and Cotto using movement while anticipating chances to counterpunch. Margarito immediately concluded the gap in the final 15 seconds, landing a left hook, left uppercut and right hand that had Cotto against the ropes. Halfway through the eleventh round, a left uppercut by Margarito left Cotto vulnerable as he took a knee after Margarito landed a right uppercut and two right hands. Cotto managed to get up, but he went down again, despite Margarito not landing another punch. The referee moved in to count, but Evangelista Cotto, Cotto's trainer and uncle, climbed on to the ring apron and threw in the towel. The official time of the stoppage was 2:05 of round eleven.
described the fight as a "riveting slugfest with a dramatic ending that left the throbbing crowd of 10,477 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in ecstasy". The referee for the bout Kenny Bayless called it "the best fight I've ever done". Fightnews.com writers Andreas Hale and Victor Perea called it "an instant classic that gave boxing fans all over the world all they could handle...and then some". Dave Larzelere of Sporting News wrote that it "was unquestionably the fight of the year". Compubox wrote, "Margarito-Cotto was billed as 'The Battle' and it certainly lived up to the name as they proved why they are among the best boxing has to offer". BoxingScene.com writer Jake Donovan wrote that "It was brutal, and lived up to everyone's exceedingly high expectations". Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports named it the third best boxing match of 2008. The fight generated 450,000 pay-per-view buys, the third highest in 2008 for a boxing match.
Following the victory, Margarito became The Ring magazine's #1 ranked boxer in the welterweight division, and he replaced Cotto in their rankings as the #6 ranked boxer in the world, pound-for-pound. For Cotto, The Ring magazine dropped him to #3 in their welterweight rankings and #10 in their pound-for-pound rankings. With the loss, Cotto's fight with Oscar De La Hoya, which would have guaranteed Cotto $25 million, was off. De La Hoya instead opted to fight The Ring magazine's #1 ranked pound-for-pound boxer Manny Pacquiao
on December 6, 2008, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Margarito made his first title defense against Shane Mosley on January 24, 2009, losing to him by technical knockout in the ninth round. The California State Athletic Commission
revoked the licenses of Margarito and his trainer Javier Capetillo for a year on February 10, 2009, after it was discovered before the fight that a plaster
-like substance on illegal pads was found inside Margarito's hand wraps. On February 21, 2009, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Cotto claimed the vacant WBO welterweight title by defeating Michael Jennings by fifth round technical knockout. In his second title defense, Cotto defeated former IBF welterweight champion Joshua Clottey
by split decision at Madison Square Garden on June 13, 2009.
Professional Boxing
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, emerged in the early twentieth century as boxing gradually attained legitimacy and became a regulated, sanctioned sport. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse which is divided among the fighters and promoters as determined by contract...
match between World Boxing Association
World Boxing Association
The World Boxing Association is a boxing organization that sanctions official matches, and awards the WBA world championship title at the professional level. It was previously known as the National Boxing Association before changing its name in 1962...
(WBA) welterweight
Welterweight
Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...
champion Miguel Cotto
Miguel Cotto
Miguel Ángel Cotto Vázquez is a Puerto Rican professional boxer and the reigning WBA light middleweight champion. He is the younger brother of contender Jose Miguel Cotto and cousin of Abner Cotto...
and former International Boxing Federation
International Boxing Federation
The International Boxing Federation or IBF is one of four major organizations recognized by IBHOF which sanction world championship boxing bouts, alongside the WBA, WBC and WBO.- History :...
(IBF) and World Boxing Organization
World Boxing Organization
The World Boxing Organization is a sanctioning organization currently recognizing professional boxing world champions. The organization is recognized as one of the four major world championship groups by the IBHOF alongside the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Council and the...
(WBO) welterweight champion Antonio Margarito
Antonio Margarito
Antonio Margarito Montiel is a Mexican professional boxer. He is a former WBA, WBO, & IBF welterweight champion...
. The WBA welterweight title bout took place on July 26, 2008, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, and resulted in an eleventh round technical knockout victory for Margarito.
Both men had previously fought on April 12 and emerged victorious, thus clearing the way for a July 26 match between the two boxers. It was Cotto's first fight in Las Vegas since December 2004. According to promoter Bob Arum
Bob Arum
Robert "Bob" Arum is the founder and CEO of Top Rank, a professional boxing promotion company based in Las Vegas. He also worked for the US Attorney's Office for the southern district of New York in the tax division....
, the bout took place in Las Vegas to promote Cotto to a new audience while also appealing to Margarito's Mexican American
Mexican American
Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...
fans in California. Cotto entered the fight as The Ring
The Ring (magazine)
The Ring is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the sporting legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into question, The Ring shifted to becoming exclusively a boxing oriented publication...
magazine's #1 ranked boxer in the welterweight division and #6 in their pound-for-pound rankings. Margarito entered the match as The Ring magazine's #4 ranked welterweight. Press conferences were held in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, New York City, and Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
to promote the world title bout.
Cotto and Margarito's aggressive boxing styles led to much praise from multiple boxing writers. Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports
Yahoo! Sports
Yahoo! Sports was launched on December 8, 1997. It receives a majority of its information from STATS, Inc., employs various writers, and has team pages for teams in almost every North American sport...
named it the third-best boxing match of 2008 and the fight generated 450,000 pay-per-view buys, the third-highest in 2008 for a boxing match. Margarito was later suspected of cheating in this bout after controversy arose over his use of hand wraps after his bout with Shane Mosley.
Miguel Cotto
World Boxing Organization
The World Boxing Organization is a sanctioning organization currently recognizing professional boxing world champions. The organization is recognized as one of the four major world championship groups by the IBHOF alongside the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Council and the...
(WBO) light welterweight
Light welterweight
-Professional boxing:The light welterweight class is a weight division in professional boxing that has a limit of 63.5 kg or 140 pounds...
title, Cotto moved up in weight class to the welterweight
Welterweight
Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...
division and defeated Carlos Quintana
Carlos Quintana (boxer)
Carlos Quintana is a Puerto Rican professional boxer. As an amateur Quintana represented Puerto Rico. He debuted as a professional in 1997. On February 24, 2006, he participated in his first professional championship fight, defeating Raul Bejerano for the World Boxing Organization's Latino...
on December 2, 2006 to win the World Boxing Association
World Boxing Association
The World Boxing Association is a boxing organization that sanctions official matches, and awards the WBA world championship title at the professional level. It was previously known as the National Boxing Association before changing its name in 1962...
(WBA) welterweight title. Cotto's first title defense came against mandatory challenger Oktay Urkal
Oktay Urkal
Oktay Urkal is a Turkish-German former professional welterweight.-Amateur career:As an amateur, Urkal won the silver medal in the light welterweight division at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia...
in a bout that took place on March 3, 2007, at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum
Roberto Clemente Coliseum
The Roberto Clemente Coliseum is a sporting events and concert arena in San Juan, Puerto Rico.It was, for many years, Puerto Rico's largest indoor event facility, and it continues being one of the largest....
in San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
. A mandatory challenger is a boxer who is chosen by a boxing organization to fight for their title. If the champion decides not to defend the title against the mandatory challenger, the boxing organization strips him of his title. In attendance for the bout was former undisputed welterweight champion Zab Judah
Zab Judah
Zabdiel Judah is an American professional boxer. Judah has won five world titles between the junior welterweight and welterweight divisions, and is a former undisputed welterweight champion....
, who was expected to be Cotto's next opponent as long as Cotto defeated Urkal and Judah won his fight in April. Cotto displayed a dominant performance against Urkal, eventually to the point where Urkal's corner retired in the eleventh round. On April 13, 2007, Judah's match with journeyman
Journeyman
A journeyman is someone who completed an apprenticeship and was fully educated in a trade or craft, but not yet a master. To become a master, a journeyman had to submit a master work piece to a guild for evaluation and be admitted to the guild as a master....
boxer Ruben Galvan ended in a no contest
No contest (boxing)
No contest is a technical term used in some combat sports to describe a fight that ends for reasons outside the fighters' hands.-Boxing:...
after a severe cut opened up around Galvan's hairline, which was ruled to have been caused by Judah's elbow. Despite the no contest, the bout between Cotto and Judah went ahead as planned, taking place at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on June 9, 2007. In front of a sellout crowd of 20,658, Cotto defeated Judah by technical knockout in the eleventh round.
In his next fight, Cotto fought former three-division champion Shane Mosley
Shane Mosley
“Sugar” Shane Mosley is an American professional boxer from Pomona, California who has held world titles in three weight divisions.-Amateur career:Mosley was an amateur standout, capturing various amateur titles, including:...
on November 10, 2007. Mosley had originally set his sights on fighting World Boxing Council
World Boxing Council
The World Boxing Council was initially established by 11 countries: the United States, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil plus Puerto Rico, met in Mexico City on February 14, 1963, upon invitation of the then President of Mexico, Adolfo...
(WBC) welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather, Jr., but Mayweather was in negotiations to fight Ricky Hatton
Ricky Hatton
Richard John Hatton MBE, more commonly known as Ricky "the Hitman" Hatton, , is a former British professional boxer, and currently a promoter....
, and on July 28, 2007, Mayweather and Hatton officially agreed to the fight. With the two fights scheduled to take place a month apart from each other, the media speculated that the winners of the two fights would likely fight each other next. Cotto was successful in his third title defense, defeating Mosley by unanimous decision
Unanimous decision
A unanimous decision is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and others sports involving striking in which all three judges agree on which fighter won the match....
at Madison Square Garden in New York City, while one month later, Mayweather defeated Hatton by tenth round technical knockout at the MGM Grand
MGM Grand Las Vegas
The MGM Grand Las Vegas is a hotel casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The MGM Grand is the third largest hotel in the world and largest hotel resort complex in the United States in front of The Venetian. The MGM Grand was the largest hotel in the world when it opened in...
in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
. Following his victory, Mayweather announced that he would take a two year layoff from boxing to focus on his promotional company. However, one month later, Mayweather began negotiations for a rematch with Oscar De La Hoya
Oscar de la Hoya
Oscar De La Hoya is a retired American boxer of Mexican descent. Nicknamed "The Golden Boy", De La Hoya won a gold medal at the Barcelona Olympic Games shortly after graduating from Garfield High School. De La Hoya comes from a boxing family. His grandfather Vicente, father Joel Sr., and brother...
. With several top welterweight fighters unavailable, Cotto agreed to fight Alfonso Gomez
Alfonso Gomez
Alfonso Salvador Gómez Becerra is a Mexican professional boxer. He was a competitor on the reality TV show The Contender, where he ended up ranked third out of sixteen fighters.-Personal life:...
, a fighter most notable for appearing on the first season of The Contender. The match took place on April 12, 2008, at Boardwalk Hall
Boardwalk Hall
Boardwalk Hall, formally known as the Historic Atlantic City Convention Hall, is an arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States...
in Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...
, and resulted in a victory for Cotto after the ring doctor stopped the fight after round five.
Antonio Margarito
On July 21, 2001, Margarito's bout with WBO welterweight champion Daniel SantosDaniel Santos (boxer)
Daniel Santos is a Puerto Rican professional boxer. As an amateur Santos represented Puerto Rico in international events, including the 1990 and 1992 Junior World Championships, Pan American Boxing Tournament, Goodwill Games, 1995 Pan American Games and the 1996 Summer Olympics, where he won a...
ended in a no contest after the fighters' heads collided in the first round and a deep cut was opened over the corner of Margarito's right eyebrow. He would get another opportunity to win the WBO title on March 16, 2002 against Antonio Diaz. Margarito defeated Diaz by tenth round technical knockout to win the title, which had been vacated by Santos. Seven months later, he made his first successful defense of the WBO title with a unanimous decision victory over Danny Perez. His second title defense came against former WBA welterweight champion Andrew Lewis at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino is a 44-story luxury hotel casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned by MGM Resorts International. Five floors of the main hotel building are occupied by the five-star and AAA Five-Diamond Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas...
in Las Vegas on February 8, 2003. Margarito won the fight by second round technical knockout after a significant amount of punches from Margarito led to a stoppage from the referee. On January 31, 2004, at the Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, Margarito defeated Hercules Kyvelos
Hercules Kyvelos
Hercules Kyvelos is a Greek-Canadian boxer in the Welterweight division and is the former Canadian Welterweight Champion. He fought at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.-Amateur career:...
by second round technical knockout in his third title defense. After the fight, he discussed his interest in a major fight with Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley, or Fernando Vargas
Fernando Vargas
Fernando Vargas is a retired Mexican American boxer and two-time world champion, who won a bronze medal as an amateur at the 1995 Pan American Games in Mar del Plata. His nicknames include "Ferocious", "The Aztec Warrior" and "El Feroz"...
.
In his next fight, Margarito moved up in weight class for a rematch with Daniel Santos, who possessed the WBO junior welterweight title. The fight took place on September 11, 2004 and ended in a technical decision
Technical decision
A technical decision is a term used in boxing when a fight has to be stopped because of a headbutt.In boxing fights, referees have to pay deep attention to the action going on between the fighters, especially when the two combatants are fighting close to each other...
victory for Santos after Margarito was cut over the right eye by an unintentional headbutt
Headbutt
A headbutt is a strike with the head, typically involving the use of robust parts of the cranium as areas of impact. Effective headbutting revolves around striking a sensitive area with a less sensitive area, such as striking the nose of an opponent with the forehead...
in round six. After round nine it was ruled Margarito could not continue, so the fight was decided on the scorecards and Santos led 86–85, 87–84 on two cards while Margarito was ahead 86–85 on the third scorecard. After the loss, Margarito moved back down in weight to defend his WBO welterweight title against Sebastian Lujan on February 18, 2005. He won the fight by technical knockout in the tenth round and set up a fight against Kermit Cintron
Kermit Cintron
Kermit Cintrón is a Puerto Rican boxer who is from Carolina, Puerto Rico. Cintrón is trained by Ronnie Shields and managed by Josh Dubin. He is promoted by Top Rank.-Early and personal life:...
, who was in attendance for Margarito's fight with Lujan. On April 23, 2005, Margarito defeated the less experienced Cintron, knocking him down four times en route to a technical knockout victory in the fifth round at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Margarito's next fight took place on February 18, 2006, when he defeated Manuel Gomez by technical knockout in just 74 seconds in Las Vegas.
After Floyd Mayweather, Jr. defeated Zab Judah on April 8, 2006, he rejected an $8 million offer from promoter Bob Arum
Bob Arum
Robert "Bob" Arum is the founder and CEO of Top Rank, a professional boxing promotion company based in Las Vegas. He also worked for the US Attorney's Office for the southern district of New York in the tax division....
to fight Margarito on August 12, 2006, citing a hand injury as the reason he did not take the bout. On December 2, 2006, Margarito successfully defended the WBO welterweight title for the seventh time with a unanimous decision victory over Joshua Clottey
Joshua Clottey
Joshua Clottey is a Ghanaian professional boxer. Born in Accra, Ghana, Clottey now lives in the Bronx, New York. He is the former IBF welterweight champion. He's also the brother of veteran boxers Judas Clottey and Emmanuel Clottey....
. On July 14, 2007, Margarito fought Paul Williams
Paul Williams (boxer)
Paul Williams is an American boxer and is the former two-time WBO welterweight champion.With a height of six-feet-one inch, Paul is considered extremely tall for the three divisions he campaigns in: Welterweight, Jr...
in his eighth title defense at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California
Carson, California
Carson is a city in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, Carson had a total population of 91,714. Located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately 14 miles away from the Los Angeles International Airport, it is known as a suburb of the city....
. With a victory, Margarito would set up himself up for a welterweight title unification match against Miguel Cotto in the autumn, but Margarito lost to Williams by unanimous decision. Four months later, Margarito knocked out Golden Johnson
Golden Johnson
Golden Demond Johnson is a professional boxer in the Welterweight division. He's the former three-time NABF champion at Lightweight, Light Welterweight, and Welterweight.-Personal life:...
in the first round at Madison Square Garden in New York City. On April 12, 2008, Margarito had a rematch with Kermit Cintron, who held the IBF welterweight title. The match took place on the undercard of Cotto's fight with Alfonso Gomez and Margarito knocked out Cintron in the sixth round to win the title.
Pre-fight information
Vitali Klitschko
Vitaliy Volodymyrovych Klychko is a Ukrainian professional heavyweight boxer and the current WBC heavyweight champion. He is a leader of the political party Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform and a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the Congress of the Council of Europe. He previously...
's bout with Danny Williams
Danny Williams (boxer)
Daniel "Danny" Williams is an English professional heavyweight boxer.-Amateur:As an amateur boxing out of the famous Lynn AC boxing gym in SE London, Williams learned his trade quickly, often sparring with the likes of clubmates Henry Akinwande and Derek Angol...
. According to Bob Arum, the match took place in Las Vegas to promote Cotto to a new audience while also appealing to Margarito's Mexican American
Mexican American
Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...
fans in California. The Las Vegas notion gained momentum in the previous month when the Nevada Athletic Commission
Nevada Athletic Commission
The Nevada Athletic Commission regulates all contests and exhibitions of unarmed combat within the state of Nevada, including licensure and supervision of promoters, boxers, kickboxers, mixed martial arts fighters, seconds, ring officials, managers, and matchmakers...
amended its provisional rules on glove size, allowing welterweights to wear 8 ounce (227 g) gloves instead of the previously mandated 10 ounce (284 g) gloves. Nearly every other boxing jurisdiction in the United States allows welterweights to fight with 8 ounce gloves, and both Cotto and Margarito likely would have refused to fight in Las Vegas without their usual glove size. Margarito had to vacate the IBF welterweight title after the IBF mandated him to defend the title against Joshua Clottey
Joshua Clottey
Joshua Clottey is a Ghanaian professional boxer. Born in Accra, Ghana, Clottey now lives in the Bronx, New York. He is the former IBF welterweight champion. He's also the brother of veteran boxers Judas Clottey and Emmanuel Clottey....
. Press conferences were held in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, New York City, and Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
to promote the world title bout.
Cotto entered the fight as The Ring
The Ring (magazine)
The Ring is an American boxing magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing and wrestling magazine. As the sporting legitimacy of professional wrestling came more into question, The Ring shifted to becoming exclusively a boxing oriented publication...
magazine's #1 ranked boxer in the welterweight division and #6 in their pound-for-pound rankings. Margarito entered the match as The Ring magazine's #4 ranked welterweight. The official judges for the bout were Dave Moretti, Jerry Roth, and Glen Hamada, and the referee was Kenny Bayless. Serving as the ring announcer for the fight was Michael Buffer
Michael Buffer
Michael Buffer is an American professional ring announcer for boxing and professional wrestling matches. He is known for his trademarked catchphrase, "Let's get ready to rumble!" He is known for pioneering a distinct announcing style in which he rolls certain letters and adds other inflections to...
. Promoted by Arum's Top Rank Boxing
Top Rank Boxing
Top Rank, Inc. is a Las Vegas based boxing promotion company founded by Jabir Herbert Muhammad and Bob Arum, which was incorporated in 1973. Since its founding, the company has promoted several world class fighters, such as Muhammad Ali, JI Penalver, Oscar De La Hoya, Roberto Durán, Joe Frazier,...
promotional company, the match aired on Home Box Office
Home Box Office
HBO, short for Home Box Office, is an American premium cable television network, owned by Time Warner. , HBO's programming reaches 28.2 million subscribers in the United States, making it the second largest premium network in America . In addition to its U.S...
(HBO) Pay-Per-View
Pay-per-view
Pay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...
. Cotto entered the fight as a two-to-one betting favorite, and the official attendance for the event was 10,477. Both Margarito and Cotto weighed in at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds (66.7 kg).
Opinions
Cotto and Margarito's aggressive boxing styles led to much speculation of a potential fight of the year candidate. Junior welterweight titleholder Paulie Malignaggi said that the fight would be "pure entertainment", and HBO commentator Jim LampleyJim Lampley
James "Jim" Lampley is an American sportscaster, news anchor, movie producer, and restaurant owner. Lampley has anchored a record 14 Olympic Games U.S. television broadcasts, most recently the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China....
said that "I'm asking for one of my top 10 fights in my 22 years of calling fights on television". Dave Larzelere of Sporting News wrote that the bout had "the potential to be one of those epic Irresistible Force vs. Immoveable Object kind of battles that we talk about forever afterwards, à la Hagler/Hearns
The War (boxing)
The War, also known as Marvin Hagler vs. Thomas Hearns or Hagler-Hearns, was a world middleweight championship boxing match between Undisputed Champion Marvin Hagler and challenger Thomas Hearns, who was himself the world's junior middleweight champion...
or Corrales
Diego Corrales
Diego "Chico" Corrales was an American boxer.He was the WBC, WBO, & The Ring lightweight champion, and the WBO & IBF super featherweight champion....
/Castillo
José Luis Castillo
José Luis Castillo is a Mexican boxer. Nicknamed El Temible, Castillo is considered one the best lightweights of his era. He is the former The Ring and two-time WBC Lightweight champion....
". Jeff Haney of the Las Vegas Sun
Las Vegas Sun
The Las Vegas Sun is a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper. It is one of Las Vegas, Nevada's two daily newspapers. It is owned by the Greenspun family and is affiliated with Greenspun Media Group....
described the fight as "not only the sport’s most promising matchup of the year. It also conjures memories of past fights in which regional or national pride was at stake", noting the rivalry
Puerto Rican-Mexican boxing rivalry
The Mexico–Puerto Rico boxing rivalry is a highly competitive sports rivalry that exists between boxers from the two countries, as well as their respective sets of fans....
between Mexico and Puerto Rico. The Arizona Republic wrote, "Cotto, an impassive and intimidating Puerto Rican, and Margarito, a patient and tough Mexican, are another chapter in a rivalry rich in legends and still productive". Yahoo! Sports
Yahoo! Sports
Yahoo! Sports was launched on December 8, 1997. It receives a majority of its information from STATS, Inc., employs various writers, and has team pages for teams in almost every North American sport...
writer Kevin Iole felt that the boxing match would provide a performance similar to that of the fight between Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales, which was named fight of the year
Ring Magazine fights of the year
The Ring was established in 1922 and since 1945, it has named a Fight of the Year.-1940s:*1945 - Rocky Graziano KO 10 Red Cochrane I*1946 - Tony Zale KO 6 Rocky Graziano I*1947 - Rocky Graziano KO 6 Tony Zale II...
by The Ring magazine.
Bout summary
Margarito, traditionally a sluggish starter, anticipated to emerge swift, but it was Cotto who got off to a more effective start by throwing numerous punches and applying plenty of movement. Cotto picked up where he left off in the second round, approaching directly at Margarito though easily getting by harm's way once Margarito sought to counterpunch. That, nevertheless, changed approximately a minute into the round, as Margarito landed a right hand that momentarily had Cotto by the ropes. Margarito directed his assault to Cotto's body, but Cotto landed various left hooksHook (boxing)
A hook is a punch in boxing. It is performed by turning the core muscles and back, thereby swinging the arm, which is bent at an angle near or at 90 degrees, in a horizontal arc into the opponent...
. Blood started descending from Cotto's nose, but did not discourage him from closing the round by landing a punch upon Margarito. Mobility represented the key for Cotto in the third round, efficaciously blending boxing and brawling while trying to minimize the blood flow from his nose and a small cut over his left eye. Margarito continued targeting the body, but drew two distinguish warnings for low blows
Groin attack
A groin attack is an attempt to cause pain to the groin area of one's opponent. The technique can be quickly debilitating, due to the large number of sensitive nerve endings in the penis and testicles of males, as well as the highly innervated vulva of females. A sufficiently powerful blow may...
in the span of less than a minute. Margarito closed the gap sufficiency in the fourth round by landing a right uppercut and attacking Cotto's body to slow him down. In the fifth round, Cotto provided plenty of lateral movement which frustrated Margarito. Cotto persisted on the move and would land a flurry of punches prior to directly escaping harm's way. Margarito landed a straight right hand that had Cotto temporarily unsteady with ten seconds to go, but Cotto eluded all of the ensuing punches until the final bell.
While Margarito did not land a lot of punches, he remained the more engaged fighter in the sixth round. A left hook to the body had Cotto on the defensive early in the seventh round, but he was able to fend off additional difficulty. A right hand from Cotto slowed Margarito, but he returned with punches that forced Cotto to clinch. Margarito commanded the bulk of the round, throwing 130 punches in the round according to Compubox
Compubox
CompuBox is the name of a computerized punches scoring system run by two operators. CompuBox is used in boxing matches across the world.The system is based on a computer program, originally named FightStat, developed by Jon Gibbs in 1984-85 when Gibbs worked with Logan Hobson and Robert Canobbio at...
. Cotto was advocated by his corner in between rounds to stay off the ropes. He obliged, providing lateral movement throughout the round but with approximately 30 seconds left, Margarito was able to trap Cotto in a corner, but Cotto managed to escape. It was more of the same in the ninth round, with Cotto going back and forth between southpaw
Southpaw (boxing)
Southpaw is a boxing term that designates the stance where the boxer has his right hand and right foot forward, leading with right jabs, and following with a left cross right hook. Southpaw is the normal stance for a left-handed boxer...
and conventional stance. Margarito continued charging ahead, although Cotto would counterpunch sufficiency to avoid Margarito. The same pattern applied as in the previous two rounds, with Margarito charging forward and Cotto using movement while anticipating chances to counterpunch. Margarito immediately concluded the gap in the final 15 seconds, landing a left hook, left uppercut and right hand that had Cotto against the ropes. Halfway through the eleventh round, a left uppercut by Margarito left Cotto vulnerable as he took a knee after Margarito landed a right uppercut and two right hands. Cotto managed to get up, but he went down again, despite Margarito not landing another punch. The referee moved in to count, but Evangelista Cotto, Cotto's trainer and uncle, climbed on to the ring apron and threw in the towel. The official time of the stoppage was 2:05 of round eleven.
Post-fight
Dan Rafael of ESPN.comESPN.com
ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN and a division of ESPN Inc. Since launching in 1995 as ESPNet.SportsZone.com, the website has developed numerous sections including: Page 2, SportsNation, ESPN 3.com, ESPN Motion, My ESPN, ESPN Sports Travel, ESPN Video Games, ESPN Insider, ESPN.com's...
described the fight as a "riveting slugfest with a dramatic ending that left the throbbing crowd of 10,477 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in ecstasy". The referee for the bout Kenny Bayless called it "the best fight I've ever done". Fightnews.com writers Andreas Hale and Victor Perea called it "an instant classic that gave boxing fans all over the world all they could handle...and then some". Dave Larzelere of Sporting News wrote that it "was unquestionably the fight of the year". Compubox wrote, "Margarito-Cotto was billed as 'The Battle' and it certainly lived up to the name as they proved why they are among the best boxing has to offer". BoxingScene.com writer Jake Donovan wrote that "It was brutal, and lived up to everyone's exceedingly high expectations". Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports named it the third best boxing match of 2008. The fight generated 450,000 pay-per-view buys, the third highest in 2008 for a boxing match.
Following the victory, Margarito became The Ring magazine's #1 ranked boxer in the welterweight division, and he replaced Cotto in their rankings as the #6 ranked boxer in the world, pound-for-pound. For Cotto, The Ring magazine dropped him to #3 in their welterweight rankings and #10 in their pound-for-pound rankings. With the loss, Cotto's fight with Oscar De La Hoya, which would have guaranteed Cotto $25 million, was off. De La Hoya instead opted to fight The Ring magazine's #1 ranked pound-for-pound boxer Manny Pacquiao
Manny Pacquiao
Emmanuel "Manny" Dapidran Pacquiao, PLH is a Filipino professional boxer and politician. He is the first eight-division world champion; having won six world titles, as well as the first to win the lineal championship in four different weight classes. He was named "Fighter of the Decade" for the...
on December 6, 2008, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Margarito made his first title defense against Shane Mosley on January 24, 2009, losing to him by technical knockout in the ninth round. The California State Athletic Commission
California State Athletic Commission
The California State Athletic Commission regulates professional boxing, professional and amateur kickboxing and professional mixed martial arts throughout the State by licensing all participants and supervising the events....
revoked the licenses of Margarito and his trainer Javier Capetillo for a year on February 10, 2009, after it was discovered before the fight that a plaster
Plaster
Plaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...
-like substance on illegal pads was found inside Margarito's hand wraps. On February 21, 2009, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Cotto claimed the vacant WBO welterweight title by defeating Michael Jennings by fifth round technical knockout. In his second title defense, Cotto defeated former IBF welterweight champion Joshua Clottey
Joshua Clottey
Joshua Clottey is a Ghanaian professional boxer. Born in Accra, Ghana, Clottey now lives in the Bronx, New York. He is the former IBF welterweight champion. He's also the brother of veteran boxers Judas Clottey and Emmanuel Clottey....
by split decision at Madison Square Garden on June 13, 2009.
External links
- Professional boxing record for Miguel Cotto from Boxrec
- Professional boxing record for Antonio Margarito from Boxrec
- Cotto-Margarito photo gallery
- Compubox Stats
- Miguel Cotto-Antonio Margarito: The Pre-War Report Card by Cliff Rold, July 25, 2008, BoxingScene.com