By Ralph Rimpell: For a long time many boxing writers said the sport of boxing had declined in popularity. Many fight fans witnessed mismatch after mismatch. Attending boxing matches was like having a movie script in your hands. You kind of knew what the conclusion was. The suspense of the outcome just wasn’t there. As an example, the networks and the promoters would match up a prospect, with a record of 21-0, 15 KOs against a washed up past his prime fighter with a record of 12-16, 4 KOs..
We all knew what the conclusion was 99.9 % of the time. Or we would see the same scenario where the huge underdog would beat the prospect, in the opinion of the spectators and not receive the decision of the judges in his favor. To the credit of the networks they have begun to schedule and give the fight fans the competitive matches they have been yearning for years. Fights such as Pacquio-Marquez II, Diaz-Campbell, Hopkins-Calzaghe and Mayweather-De La Hoya I. There is an excitement about boxing’s 147lb division that the promoters and networks are focusing on in order to once again bring boxing fans great fights. This is not a division where there is one young prospect and plenty of fighters past their prime. There are many young guns willing to challenge the king of the hill, Floyd Mayweather Jr. All the top fighters such as Cotto, Margarito, Williams, and Quintana are in their boxing prime. Williams and Quintana will settle their differences in a rematch before they can once again consider challenging the King. Cotto and Margarito will fight on July 26, 2008. Margarito and Cotto seem to be at the head of the class.
Mayweather thus far has refused to fight both of these fighters citing that neither would be much competition for him, nor provide enough financial incentive. Mayweather no longer refers to himself as “Pretty Boy Floyd”, but Rather “Money Mayweather”. It’s obvious his motivation at this point of his career is solely to earn money, not to fight the best available fighters. He is currently in negotiations for a financial blockbuster rematch with De La Hoya. He beat De La Hoya over a year ago via a 12 rd. split decision. Most boxing writers do not wish to see this rematch. Although it was a dream match up and Mayweather talked about “brutally” beating up Oscar, the fight was uneventful and lacked fireworks. Provided Mayweather defeats De la Hoya for a second time, the winner of Cotto-Margarito is a legitimate challenger to Mayweather’s mythical “pound for pound” title. Who is Antonio “Tony” Margarito?
Antonio “Tony” Margarito is a fighter with a professional record of 36-5 (26 KOs). Mayweather dismissed the idea of him as an opponent because of his five losses. Margarito turned professional at the age of 15 to fight grown men. At that time the other fighters in his current division were in high school fighting boys there own age range in the amateurs. During the first two years of his career he lost three times. He would learn from those three losses because he would not lose again for another 8 years. It was a controversial loss in a rematch to Daniel Santos in 2004. He had previously fought Santos in 2001. That fight was ruled a no contest after a clash of heads caused the fight to be stopped in the first round. The rematch was in Santos’s hometown of Puerto Rico. Another clash of heads caused the fight to be stopped after 11 rounds. The fight went to the scorecards and the judges not surprisingly ruled the fight in Santos’s favor. Many thought Margarito was ahead. Last year he lost his WBO belt to Paul Williams in a very close fight. The fight fans I polled were divided as to who won that fight. Some scored the fight rounds 7-5 for Margarito, others scored it 7-5 for Williams, and a few had it a draw. The rule of thumb in world championship fights is, the challenger is supposed to take the title from the champion in convincing fashion, not squeak by and take the champions title. In his second fight after that loss, he won his second world title by stopping Cotto’s country man, IBF champion Kermit Cintron after six rounds in impressive fashion. What’s the point in rehashing ancient history? The point is Margarito is a hell of a lot better then his record indicates. As was already mentioned, the major difference between Margarito and his peers in the welterweight division is that they all had amateur careers. Margarito did not. All the aforementioned fighters all have losses as amateurs.
Would these fighters have won two major world titles (WBO & IBF) like Margarito has if they had went straight to the professional ranks at the age of 15 and not fought as amateurs? How many fighters do that? Only one or two fighters come to mind like Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. Tony, like his peers, learned from his losses and used them as learning experiences to infiltrate the elite fighters at 147lbs. For the past two years he has tried to secure a fight with Mayweather with no success. Mayweather was even offered 8 million dollars to fight Margarito. Mayweather has given every excuse in the book as to why he will not fight him. In spite of Mayweather’s refusal, Margarito now stands at the threshold of greatness. Miguel Cotto is the recognized number 2 guy in the welterweight division after Mayweather. Margarito realizes this golden opportunity and he will not let this opportunity slip by. Who is Miguel Cotto?
Miguel Cotto is former Olympian. After an unsuccessful attempt in the Olympics, Top Rank signed him to a promotional contract. They have guided his career brilliantly thus far. They have matched him with the right fighters according to his development and skill level. He has won two world titles in as many divisions and is the current WBA welterweight champion. He is undefeated professionally with a record of 32-0, 26 KOs. Many boxing fans and writers believe he has a good chance of defeating Mayweather. These opinions are based largely on his performances against former world champions Zab Judah and Shane Mosley. When Mayweather fought Judah he was out boxed the first 4 rounds before he would rally later in the fight and score an impressive unanimous decision win. Cotto systematically broke down Judah before finally knocking him out in the 11th round. While Mayweather has not fought Mosley, this is a fighter who still has speed and excellent boxing ability at this late stage of his career. Cotto was able to effectively deal with Mosley’s speed and boxing ability. During their fight, Cotto was able to effectively put his boxing ability on display as well. Top Rank has attempted to match Cotto and Mayweather in a blockbuster fighter also with no success.
Cotto and Margarito have signed to fight each other on July 26, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Everything about this fight points to it being a great event. You have two young world champions in their prime willing to face each other. Cotto believes his press clippings that he is the number two man in the 147lb division and possibly the top guy if he faces Mayweather. Margarito has been trying to secure a high profile fight for years with the elite fighters of the division.
He finally gets his chance when he faces Cotto. Cotto is a Puerto Rican and Margarito is a Mexican. Those of us who truly follow boxing know about the Puerto Rican-Mexican rivalry in boxing. Cotto normally has great support from the Puerto Rican community in New York because of fighting at MSG. It’s like him having a home field advantage away from home. In Vegas he will still have plenty of fans cheering for him, but Margarito will also have many Mexican cheering for him. This will be a good fight as long as it last. The first 4 rounds will be competitive. Cotto will hold his own his own against Margarito. Cotto will try his best test Margarito’s chin. When he sees he is unable to hurt Margarito like his country man Cintron who is a bigger puncher was unable, he will abandon his strategy for defeating Tony and fall apart before our eyes. Cotto will show a lot of heart and do his best to compete with Margarito. Margarito will keep constant pressure and swarm Cotto with punches and eventually stop him in 8 rounds. This fight will be exactly what boxing needs. This fight will attract the casual boxing fans that stopped watching, disenchanted fans that stopped watching as well, the boxing community, and Hollywood. The winner of this fight will be the heir apparent to Mayweather’s “pound for pound” title and beat De La Hoya’s PPV records in the years to come. Oh yes, boxing is back as of July 26, 2008 and its here to stay!