Margarito Prepares for Cotto
Posted by Igor Frank on 07.05.2008
Igor Frank visits with Antonio Margarito at his training camp in Southern California.
Antonio Margarito is a legendary figure in California gym circles. His sparring sessions are very spirited to say the least: they actually feature more action than most Floyd Mayweather's real fights.
Most fights are won and lost in the gym and "The Tijuana Tornado" takes this cliché to heart. He decided to hold off on having children so that he can fully dedicate himself to his career. You have to be in great physical shape to be Antonio's sparring partner and even then you might go home with bruised ribs. Last year, Paul Williams tried to destroy Margarito's legend by saying that he hurt Tony in sparring a few years ago and was sent home right away. Whether it is true or not, I guess, we will never know, but Williams had to fight a perfect fight last summer in Carson, California to win a close decision over Margarito, who seemed a stronger man down the stretch.
This summer, the job of destroying Antonio's legend is taken by Puerto Rican superstar, Miguel Cotto, who knows it is not an easy task. Their highly anticipated match up is for all the marbles in welterweight division:
"La Batalla" is scheduled to take place on July 26th, 2008 at MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas and will be televised by HBO Pay Per View, starting at 6:00 pm.
"I do not have to train hard for Tony'" said Cotto during Los Angeles press conference in May. I train hard for every fight."
A week ago I ran into Todd Duboeuf, president of Top Rank and asked him to pick a winner of this battle.
The response I got was: " Miguel Cotto is a very special fighter."
Less than a month away from fight time, I decided to go down to Montebello to check up on Antonio's progress and to see where he trains at Latin Snake Gym.
This was definitely worth driving to Montebello for. Now I wish I could go to Puerto Rico to check on Miguel's training camp and see what he has to say.
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Igor Frank is a boxing writer for the Burbank Times and a regular contributor to 411mania.com.
I am a fan of boxing fan and i like cotto and margarito but i don't think margarito is going to win in the 4th round or the eight i i was in Puerto Rico last week and i gat to see cotto training man that guy is a animal and he look's like he is going to kill margarito so i think cotto is going to win by KO margarito is a great fighter but he don't gat defence so iknow that he is going to get his punches in but is he going to let cotto hit him for 12 round's are you crazy have you seen how hard cotto hit's yeah margarito is going down. this is going to be another win for the Puerto rican's is like 39 Puerto rico and 18 Mexico damm is a good thing Puerto Rico is just a very small island caused imagine if Puerto Rico would have been as big as mexico oh my god just think about it.
Posted By: jsr3219 (Guest) on July 05, 2008 at 09:52 AM
Considering Margarito's 2 left feet and sloppy defense, I think he will be greatly troubled by Cotto's superior speed, technique, and defense. Personally, I envision Cotto tatooing Margarito all night en route to a 9th round stoppage. Margarito, who has been dropped 3 times, will simply take too much damage. The way he telegraphs his punches will also be a detriment, as Cotto's great but underrated counterpunching abilities will be on full display. Even if the battle is waged on the inside, Cotto should have the upper hand. He has the shorter arms and the superior speed, which means that he'll always land first, should they happen to throw at the same time. Tony is tough as nails, but he's been beaten by every decent fighter he's faced (and some not so decent) with the exception of, maybe, Josh Clottey, who was making the Mexican look foolish until he broke his hand.
Posted By: Oso (Guest) on July 05, 2008 at 11:04 AM
Ya sure cottos gonna ko tony my ass. Cotto is great for the sport and i like him and his attitude, but he beat zab judah after a year long layoff. Cotto couldnt even finish a well past his prime sugar shane mosely, the fight could of went either way. Tony pressure will break cotto, just like he did to cintron. People dont understand that cintron is a pure athlete and can compete with just about anybody in the welterweight division. Wake up cotto fans, its tonys time to shine. Tony also has some very underrated boxing skills of his own. Antonio Margarito ko 6 round, nobody can avoid the tijuana tornado anymore.
Posted By: frankie (Guest) on July 05, 2008 at 12:51 PM
Uh Travis Judah had fought 2 months before the Cotto fight on ESPN 2. Margarito beating freaking Kermit Cintron isn't a comparable fight. Mosley while not in his prime is better then most of the other welters. Margarito is an excellent fighter don't get me wrong but I think Cotto isn't the guy to pressure he can handle it and I believe will I say a late round stoppage. I don't think this fight goes the distance one way or the other. Should be an awesome fight though no matter how long it lasts.
Sorry Frankie I think its you thats going to wake up on the 26th.
Posted By: Paul (Guest) on July 06, 2008 at 01:15 PM
I can't wait for Cotto to destroy this scumbag. He's the biggest shit talker of all. He acts like he is invincible because he fought a pussy like Cintron twice and beat him when Cintron is a weak minded pansy. Then Golden Schlong, a 135 lber. I don't like Margarito, I don't like people like him who think they're losses aren't real and never happened, so I want him to be embarassed and his face cut to pieces and it will happen. I wish I was there afterwards so I could piss in his asshole face. Fuck you AnPhonyio MargaShito!
Posted By: Margarito Sucks (Guest) on July 07, 2008 at 08:07 AM
Someone there in PR go to Cotto gym and let him know what Margarito said so they know the trash-talk that he is saying.
Posted By: Al (Guest) on July 07, 2008 at 08:38 AM
For whoever said Cintron was an athlete and that was a gauge for him being good, yeah just like Michael Grant a great "athlete" got that, those types of people don't have the fight mentality like Cintron who is the most mentally WEAK to handle the fight game, he is not a born fighter or boxer. You hold the Cintron win as something big when Cintron hasn't beaten anybody and relies on power only, the fact that in his fight right before with freaking Jesse Feliciano who was putting presure on him and giving him HELL didn't tell you Margarito would beat him makes you look foolish. Cotto isn't anything like Cintron, he is much more superior than he is and didn't take up boxing when he was 19 years old like Cintron did.
Posted By: Ron (Guest) on July 07, 2008 at 08:42 AM
For a quiet guy, Margarito can talk a lotofshit. Tony is not like the rest of great champions Mexico has given to boxing. He talks a lot of spam for a champion who never asked for a rematch to revenge his lost and recover his belt. He moved on to fight his easiest win on Cintron and now might be getting a little over confident. I don't know who is going to win, but I know for sure that Cotto is no Cintron.
Posted By: Pin Galarga (Guest) on July 07, 2008 at 03:26 PM
Ya cotto fans, watch ur guy cotto to go for the low blow when hes in trouble. Ask Zab Judah
Posted By: frankie (Guest) on July 13, 2008 at 02:27 AM
Cotto will fall in the ninth. He is nothing but a marketed fighter. Cotto IQ is questionable and Margarito will take him out as Margarito has been tested against much better opposition.
All you experts will be proven wrong.
Posted By: tezcatlipoca (Guest) on July 19, 2008 at 10:07 PM
tezcatlipoca - Since you have to be a mexican jock rider ima say this in spanish - tu eres un bruto! The only questionable IQ here is yours. Cotto knocks out the Tijuana breeze.
Posted By: MargaritaSucks (Guest) on July 25, 2008 at 08:52 PM
