Cotto/Margarito: A Live Account

So I decided to start this blog on a whim aka utter boredom. I've never really written and that's more than likely going to show at first. But hopefully my writing acumen will improve as well as my analytical ability in regards to boxing.

In the past 6 months I've started to immerse myself in the sport of Boxing. It's given me a well needed break from watching MMA all the time. Which allows me to appreciate it more when a big show comes around. I used to watch all the MMA I could but that has really burnt me out this year. Basically I'm no Jordan Breen (but who is really other than the man himself). Anyway, I have really come to appreciate the sport of boxing this year. When i heard the Cotto/Margarito fight was signed I immediately began pondering a trip to Las Vegas to witness what would probably be a fight of the year candidate live. I contacted Total-MMA boxing savant and all around sweet dude Alan Conceicao. He basically booked the whole damn thing for me. So off i was to Las Vegas on my own.

This was my second sojourn to Vegas. The first being Pride's 2nd show in America and 2nd to last show ever. It was a whirlwind of a trip. This time around I would be spending 3 nights in Vegas at the Excalibur. Let's fast forward to the fight. I slept way late that day and ended up missing a bunch of the preliminary bouts. Oops. Turns out Kid Diamonds fight was cancelled so i didn't feel too bad. I'm going to skip right to the main event because well everything else was fairly forgettable with the exception of the flyweight bout which outside of round 1 was a complete domination by Cesar Canchila of Giovanni Segura.

Now it was time for the main event. It felt like we were all about to witness something really special, . From the moment Micheal Buffer took the mic and started the festivities everyone was standing until the opening bell. Then everyone took their seats and watched contently as the fight slowly unfolded before our eyes. The guy sitting in front of me who was a veteran boxing fan turned to me before the start of the fight and gave me the "here we go" look. Things started slowly as both men felt each other out. It was obvious from the beginning Cotto was the Boxer and Margarito was the Pressure fighter who would never retreat. I won't give a round by round account because I'm sure mst of you have seen it and don't need one from an admittedly novice boxing fan. The early rounds belonged to Cotto. Anytime Margarito woul pin him and throw punches he would land crisp 2 and 3 punch combo's violently snapping the Mexicans head back. Margarito never relented and as the fight went on momentum would start to change hands. It became very apparent in round 7 when Margarito hurt Cotto badly which forced Miguel to smartly clinch and save himself from a knockdown. This really revived the predominantly Mexican crowd who were getting fairly nervous this was becoming a one sided decision in favor of the Puerto Rican fight Cotto.

Cotto recovered in rounds 8 and 9 and returned to his retreat and land clean combo's counter style. But you could feel he was becoming more and more desperate for the fight to be over, as Max Kellerman pointed out on the HBO broadcast. In round 10 Margarito began to light Cotto up and hurt him again towards the end of the round. Cotto who was essentially saved by the bell that round came out in the 11th looking like a man ready to be put away. Sure enough Margarito would continue to come forward as he had the entire fight and you could feel the end was near. He pinned Cotto on the ropes and landed body and head shots until Cotto took a knee. The arena erupted in celebration of what ha just occurred. Cotto answers the count but is finished. He won't survive for much longer in this state. Cotto retreats to a neutral corner and before Margarito can hit him takes another knee. He looks towards his corner, his uncle/trainer is now on the apron and waves the towel. Everyone overwhelmed with what they just saw happen before our eyes. Boxing's newest star had been mentally and physically broken by a man who only last year had lost his title belt to Paul Williams in a fairly clear cut decision. A career was revived and surely saved on this night. I'm glad to say this was the first boxing card i have ever attended and i will make a point to make it out to every Antonio Margarito fight from here on out.