Margarito: The Number One WelterWeight

By M.W. Merlino

A Fan's Perspective:

Antonio Margarito's rise to the top of the Welterweight division started with his Round 5 knockout of then undefeated Puerto Rican "Killer" Kermit Cintron in April of 2005. The undefeated Puerto Rican dropped to the canvas amidst a seemingly unending barrage of punches from Margarito--and this story would replay itself many times afterwards, ending with Margarito's 11th round TKO of Miguel Cotto last Saturday.

Miguel Cotto, the heavy favorite going into their memorable bout, was the best competition to fall into the Tijuana Tornado's path. Cotto came into the fight off of impressive victories against Zab Judah and Shane Mosley, showing growth as a fighter and maturity in his ability to make adjustments in his game plan mid-fight. The boxing world watched the Puerto Rican star capitulate his image as a slugger and evolve into a mechanized boxer worthy of P4P status.

As the spotlight became Cotto's, as the questions became "who will he beat next?", Margarito was simply the penultimate Mexican slugger in a long line of rough, south of the border, take-five-to-give-one pressure fighters. And though this isn't a false description, Margarito is a different breed. Before he was the Number One Welterweight in the world, he was the Most Dangerous Welterweight in the world.

The man side-stepped by "Money" Mayweather would break CompuBox Punch Stat records defeating Joshua Clottey and regain lost ground after knocking out Kermit Cintron for a second time earlier this year.

Perhaps the 5 losses on his record allowed him to be overlooked. And the analysts that would brand him as just another tough Mexican fighter with more heart than skill may explain his 2-1 underdog status against Miguel Cotto. Or it could be that we were waiting for Margarito to defeat an "elite" level fighter before we gave him his due credit.

"Margarito TKO 11 Cotto"

The Tijuana Tornado would prove all of this and more. The Battle would prove that Margarito is the elite Welterweight we have kept in the dark. The naysayers have robbed us of a great boxer, the fighters who side stepped him have cheated us his potential, and Mexico provided us with this generations Chavez Sr.

The Battle is over, and Cotto's brilliant fight was not enough. Margarito is in the spotlight, Margarito calls the shots, Margarito is the champion.

Get ready for the rematch with Paul Williams!