Cotto vs. Margo II, some final thoughts..?

[TitoFan]

Although he dominated the action, this wasn't and "easy" fight for Cotto, he had to earn the 10th round TKO, but he kept his cool, had an excellent game plan, and stuck to it. I loved the way Cotto outboxed Margo, turned him when his ass started touching the ropes, tied him up and wrestled/bullied him into ropes. Cotto also caught Margo with some monster shots, and it was a thing of beauty watching him land jabs, and all those powerful combinations.

Margarito was the aggressor, (as usual) kept coming and made the fight competitive/interesting. I'll say this about Margo, to his credit, he's almost impossible to discourage. This time however, except in the 1st half of the fight his punches looked weaker and we're for the most part, ineffective.

Mad respect to Cotto, he vindicated himself, did exactly what he set out to do in this rematch, and showed why he is a champion, not just as a boxer, but in every sense of the word.

Excellent post...... not much I can add to that.

[Hulk]

From what I was able to see of the fight, and read it seems that my boy Mayorga actually did better against Cotto than Margarito.

He also did better against Shane Mosley than Margarito did.

So...

GO MAYORGA !

[TitoFan]

Final thoughts? Hmmm... Someone remarked to me last night that Cotto looked like the Cotto of old. Fast hands, beautiful boxing skills, lateral movement, ring generalship, etc. I have to agree. Cotto had a masterful gameplan. He outboxed Margarito in the first half of the fight, just like he did in the first fight. But the difference is.... he had more stamina. Also, he stayed off the ropes. When Margarito tried to pin him there, Cotto would spin him around and punish him. The haters (or closet Margarito fans) who say Cotto ran too much are missing the bus. Since when does boxing consist only of standing in the middle of the ring, trading shots and throwing caution to the wind? Like more knowledgeable posters have well said, Cotto was hitting Margarito with hard shots throughout the fight. However.... he waited until the 6th or 7th round before he started trading shots.... once he could see that Margarito's plaster-less shots were not having the same effect as in the first fight. It was a beautiful fight, full of action and drama. Margarito has a tremendous chin, gotta give him that. And he's hard (or impossible) to discourage, as someone else posted.

Cotto got his revenge and THEN some. Margarito's protests are empty words. The referee only saved him from a serious beating, as Cotto had already taken Margarito's plaster-less shots, and was starting to hit Margarito with huge bombs. Eventually, either the eye was going to fail catastrophically, or Margarito was going down (I was DYING to see that).

At the end, Cotto didn't yell, he didn't insult, he didn't go crazy. He just calmly walked over to the beaten Margarito's corner..... and stared at him. No words were necessary. Margarito knew what Cotto was "saying" to him. And when asked by Kellerman what he thought of Margarito after the fight, Cotto said very clearly into the PA system microphone: "Margarito means NOTHING to me." I could not have scripted a better and more satisfying ending.

When they show the rerun, I'll be sure to record it, so I can watch it over and over again.