Cotto, Margarito differ on warrior’s code

By the fifth round of his fight against Manny Pacquiao, it was apparent it would take a miracle for Antonio Margarito to win. By the eighth, his right eye looked worse than Rocky Balboa’s ever did in the movies. And by the 12th round of that Nov. 13, 2010, bout in Arlington, Texas, there was a lot of concern among those at ringside about Margarito’s eyesight.

Margarito, though, didn’t give up. He didn’t quit. He never thought about it. Nor did he retreat in an effort to avoid Pacquiao’s lightning fast combinations that were, quite literally, busting up his face.

More From Kevin Iole

Veterans Miguel Cotto (left) and Antonio Margarito are getting ready for their rematch.
(AP)

“I am a fighter and real fighters don’t quit,” Margarito growled. “I was there to give the people what they want to see. They came to see a fight and I was giving it to them.”
Boxing fans can be a bloodthirsty group, booing angrily when a referee stops a bout before their lust for violence has been sated. They’re no different than NASCAR fans who, no matter what they might tell you, go to the track by the hundreds of thousands looking to see a fiery wreck. If all crashes were magically eliminated, attendance at NASCAR races would drop very quickly and there would probably be no talk of new long-term TV deals.
That high-speed violence is why we watch, why we’re captivated by guys like Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis and fighters like Margarito and Miguel Cotto. The lust for violence is why Margarito’s bout against Cotto for the World Boxing Association super Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York figures to be a pay-per-view hit. People remember their savage 2008 bout in Las Vegas and know how the rivalry between them has only increased tenfold in the intervening three-and-a-half years.


The dislike between the men is real and deep. Cotto has come to believe that Margarito wore hand wraps filled with plaster when they fought the first time. At the filming of a promotional piece for HBO, Cotto pulled out his iPad to show Margarito and host Max Kellerman a close-up of Margarito’s ungloved hand, which he said was proof that Margarito’s wraps were loaded.
Saturday’s bout should be no less savage than the first, with each promising to inflict an unreal amount of mayhem upon the other.
Cotto makes no bones about the fact that he plans to target Margarito’s right eye. After the Pacquiao fight, Margarito required several surgeries to repair the injuries he suffered. At one point, before he visited ophthalmologist Alan Crandall, Margarito planned to retire because he was essentially blind in the eye.
Margarito had a broken orbital bone and he had new lens implanted. In addition, he developed a cataract and that needed to be removed surgically.

It led to last week’s dog-and-pony show, in which they New York State Athletic Commission made Margarito jump through hoops before issuing him a license to fight.