By Jason Sardelis: July 26, MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada: Antonio “Tornado” Margarito 37-5, 27 Ko’s won his third welterweight title winning the WBA belt stopping Miguel Cotto 32-1, 26 Ko’s with 55 seconds left in the 11th round.
Cotto outboxed Margarito in the opener but the Mexican showed he was there for the long hall. The Mexican challenger used relentless pressure and remained the aggressor throughout the fight, turning it into a war. Margarito landed a viscious a right hand in the second stanza hurting Cotto a sign of things to come. He also cut Cotto inside his left eye.
Margarito continued the relentless pressure over the next few rounds, but Cotto appeared to be landing the cleaner shots. Cotto used his mobility taking rounds three, four and five.
In the third round the challenger kept targeting the body but drew two warnings for low blows in less than a minute as Cotto continued to counterpunch stealing rounds..
Margarito closed the space in the fourth landing a right uppercut slowing the champion down.
In the fifth Cotto used lateral movement switching lefty, righty as the game Mexican followed. Margarito scored with a big right hand with about a minute to go in the round. Cotto continued to move stopping only long enough to get off quick combo. In round six Margarito continued to track Cotto closing the space and the momentum began to change.
Margarito turned things around in the seventh round landing a powerful left hook that clearly hurt Cotto. The champion attempted to get a reprieve and change the momentum boxing as he did in the early rounds but the “Tornado” landed again heavy closing the round.
Although Margarito was applying the pressure making the fight Cotto appeared to land enough clean shots to win the ninth round and was on his way to win the tenth round when “Tony” trapped the young Puerto Rican champion along the ropes scoring with a solid left hook, left uppercut and right hand combination hurting the bloodied champion.
In round eleven the “Tornado” finally touched down when the Mexican stalked Cotto landing another left uppercut. Cotto looking exhausted and hurt wasn’t moving and Margarito opened up with a right uppercut and two more rights flooring the champion.
Margarito got in a late blow but it appeared he pulled up as referee Kenny Bayless issued no warning and began his mandatory eight count. Cotto made it to his feet but he was finished as the raging Mexican began to batter him around the ring until Cotto dropped to his knee in the corner stopping the “Tornado’s” onslaught and calling the fight as referee Bayless moved in for a second count but a Cotto nod and his uncle/trainer now on the ring apron waiving the white flag put an end to it. Margarita had broken Cotto at 2:05 of round 11 resembling Cotto’s own destruction of Zab Judah, June 2007.
A war was promised and a war they got, it was brutal and Cotto wore the mask of a warrior. Having only been down once in thirty two professional fights Cotto had finally been broken by the bigger stronger man with a granite chin they call “Tony”.
Cotto was trailing on two of the three scorecards 96-94 and it was even on the third 95-95 when the bout was stopped. Well as hard as it was for Margarito to get fights before they certainly won’t be lining up with the possible exception of a Paul Williams rematch, a Clottey rematch should he get past Judah or maybe Mosley after he retires Mayorga.