By Rob Smith: WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (36-2, 27 KO’s) is ultra-psyched for his revenge rematch against Antonio Margarito (38-7, 27 KO’s) on December 3rd at the Madison Square Garden in New York. Cotto says he’s going to use any advantage he can get to win this fight and is convinced in his mind that Margarito fought with plaster in his hand wraps the last time they fought in July 2008.
Cotto was sliced to ribbons by Margarito in that fight and was forced to take a knee on two occasions to save himself from Margarito’s brutal head shots.
Cotto said to the Agence France Presse “I’m going to use any kind of advantage I feel I have over him, everything I have in the ring.”
Some boxing fans might read that and think that Cotto could go after Margarito surgically repaired right eye, which Margarito has had two surgeries on in the past two years. Bob Arum, Margarito’s promoter, says the eye is 100% and stronger than a normal eye. But that remains to be seen, especially someone hitting him on that eye with hard right hands and jabs.
One thing that could get in the way of Cotto having success in targeting the eye, if that’s what he ends up doing, is that Margarito’s lead eye is his left. He’s not a southpaw, which means that for Cotto to go after the eye, he’s going to have to either throw a lot of left hooks or switch to southpaw and throw lead left hands all night long. It’s doubtful Cotto will try experimenting with switching to southpaw, because that takes a lot of practice to be successful at it.
More than likely, Cotto will have to throw left hooks and that mean he’s going to have to get close. Margarito tore Cotto apart with uppercuts last time they fought, and Cotto find himself getting hit with those same kinds of shots if he tries to target Margarito’s eye. If he’s smart, he’ll forget all about going after Margarito’s bad eye and just try and outbox him to win a decision.
Cotto doesn’t have the stamina to get in a war with Margarito, especially with Cotto’s history of getting cut. That’s all he needs is a couple of bad cuts that would make it hard for him to see Margarito’s uppercuts. By fighting with anger instead of intelligence, Cotto could end up getting butchered again and stopped.