REFLECTIONS IN THE AFTERMATH

By Michael Swann

“Miguel fought a great fight, a perfect fight. Anyone else he slows down and takes out. This guy was like an express train that he couldn’t slow down and the express train ran over him. Cotto was hitting him with tremendous punches and they were having no affect at all. It’s as simple as that.”

With that, Top Rank CEO Bob Arum summed up the entire Miguel Cotto-Antonio Margarito welterweight shooting match last Saturday night at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Early in the fight WBA titlist Cotto was boxing beautifully, beating Margarito to the punch with hard combinations as he glided around the ring. In round five his head movement that caused Margarito to miss punch after punch in the closing seconds would have made Pernell Whittaker proud.

But Margarito tenaciously kept coming forward and the tide turned about midway through the sixth. After that Cotto’s combinations were reduced to one and done as he tried to escape the pounding that he was taking on the ropes, where he was being trapped with increasing regularity.

Compubox punch stats bear this out. Margarito had a 134-70 advantage in power connects over the last five rounds, and was 237 of 647 in power punches overall. Cotto was 179 of 395 in power shots for the fight before his father/trainer Evangelista Cotto stopped the fight after Miguel took a knee for the second time at 2:05 of the 11th round, climbing on the ring apron with a white towel in his hand.

At the time of the stoppage, the judges had it 95-95 and 96-94 (twice) for Margarito. I had it 96-94, giving Margarito rounds six through ten.

After all of the years of being shamelessly ducked by the premier fighters, always underpaid and under appreciated, Margarito finally got his fairy tale victory under the bright lights of Las Vegas and now suddenly becomes the toast of Mexico.

The pictures on the big screen of Julio Cesar Chavez, the Michael Jordan of Mexican fighters, cheering on the new Mexican hero with unabashed joy after his victory speaks volumes. It was a great night for Mexico.

And Margarito was drinking in every sip of the experience all the way. 30 minutes after Friday’s weigh-in he was still just outside the MGM Grand Arena, signing autographs and posing for pictures for hundreds of adoring fans. After the fight he accepted question after question, largely from the Spanish speaking media, all with a smile that never left his face.

Few American writers had picked him to win, most notably Steve Kim of Max Boxing and Nat Gottlieb of HBO.com, but in face to face conversation most that I encountered admitted that they would not be shocked by an upset. Several told me that they picked Cotto but secretly hoped for a Margarito victory, if for no other reason than it made for a good story.

So what’s next for Tony?

I seriously doubt if anyone who had previously ducked Margarito would have any greater interest in him after watching his demolition of Cotto. Paul Williams and Shane Mosley are two fighters who do have the fortitude to face him, however.

Williams beat Margarito in their first bout, so they have unfinished business. Williams lost the WBO welterweight belt to Carlos Quintana after beating Tony, and then returned to blast out Quintana in one round in the rematch. So it appears that both Williams and Margarito have grown through defeat. A WBA-WBO unification bout between the two might be the best matchup on paper.

Shane Mosley never ducked anyone. And, while he might be a bit past his peak, he fought Cotto to a near standoff last November and still has the skills and the stones to get into the ring with Margarito. Plus, he’s a bona fide PPV and box office attraction. He’s the best matchup from the financial perspective.

As for Cotto, there is no rematch clause, and likely no need for one. He certainly deserves the rematch based on his performance, Margarito would certainly favor it, and they are both promoted by Top Rank. So making the deal is not the problem. I’m just not sure that it’s in his best interests right away. He needs a cupcake or two before tackling the big game again. Another brutal loss might make him the next Fernando Vargas, (speaking of cupcakes).

Joshua Clottey and Zab Judah fight this Saturday night for the IBF title that Margarito relinquished to fight Cotto. Clottey has lost to Margarito once, but did give a good account of himself in a fight in which he hurt both hands. So he might be a possibility if he gets by Judah, but it’s hard to picture as a big money fight.

Arum was asked about Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Oscar De La Hoya as opponents.

On Floyd: “I can’t speak for businessmen. Businessmen speak for themselves. I didn’t realize what a smart businessman Floyd was. Because when I offered him $8 million to fight this beast [Margarito], he turned me down.

“He retired. Let him stay retired.”

On Oscar: “Oscar’s people have told me that if Margarito beat Cotto they weren’t interested in fighting Margarito because he was a Mexican. [Arum sighed; titters were heard throughout the room.] I don’t know but anyway they didn’t want to fight.”

Perhaps holding out an olive branch, Arum added, “However now things change. This fight did tremendous numbers on PPV and I would say a great number of people who bought the fight were Mexican-American. Therefore, many people who wouldn’t fight Antonio before might be inclined to fight him because the money rewards are so much greater.”

The attendance was 10,477 and the gate was “a touch under $3 million,” according to Arum.

“That’s without any freebies,” Arum said. “It’s tough selling tickets in this economy. The UFC guys say they sell out but that’s (bs). What they do is give away the tickets and pay the 4% tax so they can say it’s sold out. Trust me, it’s not.”

Cotto was taken to the hospital following the fight for “cautionary observation” and was not present at the press conference.

NOTES:

*PET PEEVE OF THE WEEK

It’s not as if this is my first rodeo, so it’s not as if I’m shocked, shocked, to learn than non media types sit in the media area but I just want to express my annoyance here. Saturday was particularly bad. People were actually waving others to any empty seats within sight. Most aggravating, they jump up and cheer at the most inopportune moments, as the writers try to report the fight.

There was a lady in a backless dress who had apparently gained a considerable amount of weight since her last bra purchase, judging from the deep imprint on her back, cheering on her favorite without shame. Then there were the two jerks who barreled out immediately after the fight, knocking over every bottle of water in their path over the writer’s work. There was actually a child in a seat, but a sharp PR person sniffed that one out. I saw two full media rows without a single laptop, or even a notepad.

I don’t get it. We get credentials with our pictures on them. We have to show picture ID and sign in two places to pick them up. What good is that if nothing is monitored?