Devil's Advocate Special: Margarito Will Win

Saturday night we all look forward to what is being built up as a strong contender for fight of the year. The ingredients are all there. Two iron-willed, offensive fighters. Both always coming forward and more than willing to swallow fists in order to inflict their own damage.

On top of that, we have a renewal of the great Mexican vs. Puerto Rican rivalry. It’s a rivalry that makes Yankees vs. Red Sox look like a game of marbles. This fight will be a war. It will be about pride. There will be no false bravado in this one.

However, this fight is missing one aspect of a great fight. In a truly perfect matchup, we have no idea who is going to win. Unfortunately, in the talk leading up to this fight, nearly everyone is picking the undefeated pride of Caguas, Puerto Rico, Miguel Cotto. Nearly every pundit rushes to credit Margarito before quickly dismissing the possibility of his victory.

And I tend to agree with most of these pundits. Cotto is a favorite for a reason: he’s never been beaten as a pro and he’s defeated bigger names (not necessarily better fighters). Why would the man we all saw get beat as recently as last year, and the man with the less impressive head count win?

I’ll tell you why. Allow me to play devil’s advocate, if you please…

Antonio Margarito will pull off the upset and defeat Miguel Cotto by 10th round KO.

Here is why:

First of all, the Tijuana Tornado stands at 5’11”, while Cotto is a 5’7” tank. Perhaps even more importantly, Margarito holds a 6-inch reach advantage. Cotto, meanwhile, has not faced an opponent as tall as Margarito since Cesar Bazan in 2003. Cotto won the vacant WBC International Light Welterweight title in the bout with an 11th round TKO, but Bazan is hardly a world-beater and certainly not Margarito.

Margarito, in fact, has not lost to anyone shorter than him in over 12 years. Sure, Paul Williams and Daniel Santos troubled him, but they’re both giant and left-handed, two things that Miguel Cotto is not (even though he will switch to a southpaw stance at times).

Theoretically, Antonio Margarito can control this fight as long as he punches regularly and with a purpose to prevent Cotto from getting inside. Cotto can and will walk through lazy punchers, but Margarito is the man that threw 1675 punches against Joshua Clottey, breaking a 13 year old Compubox record. And he’s no light puncher either.

Even notorious fader Zab Judah managed to hurt Cotto as deep as the 7th round. How will Cotto handle bombs reigning down from on top of him from the likes of Antonio Margarito? Not well.

There is a reason that fighters like Sugar Shane Mosley, Ricardo Mayorga, and Floyd Mayweather Jr. avoided Margarito. The man is a match-up nightmare, plain and simple. He’s a big, bad man in the land of the welterweights. Paul Williams beat him by simply slapping him around for 12 rounds, utilizing a reach advantage that Cotto will not have. Cotto is stronger than Williams, but he will have a far more difficult time hitting Margarito without absorbing punishment.

And it’s no surprise that Margarito doesn’t lose to shorter orthodox fighters. No one has been able to weather his storm, period. Granted, he has never faced Miguel Cotto before. Cotto is a true ring warrior and could be able to swallow Margarito’s medicine with grin.

But the point is that Cotto has never faced a man of Margarito’s size and power. And it’s possible that Cotto is making the mistake that his predecessors were scared to make by stepping into the ring with the Tornado.

A fight like this often comes down to desire. For a pugilist like Cotto, he’s got bigger fish to fry. If he wins this bout, bigger fights beckon. With Mayweather gone, this one can make Cotto a true brand name. And this applies to Margarito as well, but Cotto is the undefeated scrapper in his athletic prime at 27 years old. Margarito has 3 years and 5 losses on Cotto.

There is no bigger moment than the present for someone like Margarito, who was humbled by his loss to Williams. How badly did he want this fight? How much does he want to take down Cotto? He wanted it bad enough that he threw down his IBF belt without a second thought (and who can blame him?). He knew he was better than Cintron. Now he wants to show the world he’s better than Cotto.

TSS Universe: What are your thoughts? Is Margarito being overlooked a little too much? Or am I desperately trying to make the fight seem more competitive than it actually is?

On top of that, we have a renewal of the great Mexican vs. Puerto Rican rivalry. It’s a rivalry that makes Yankees vs. Red Sox look like a game of marbles. This fight will be a war. It will be about pride. There will be no false bravado in this one.

However, this fight is missing one aspect of a great fight. In a truly perfect matchup, we have no idea who is going to win. Unfortunately, in the talk leading up to this fight, nearly everyone is picking the undefeated pride of Caguas, Puerto Rico, Miguel Cotto. Nearly every pundit rushes to credit Margarito before quickly dismissing the possibility of his victory.

And I tend to agree with most of these pundits. Cotto is a favorite for a reason: he’s never been beaten as a pro and he’s defeated bigger names (not necessarily better fighters). Why would the man we all saw get beat as recently as last year, and the man with the less impressive head count win?

I’ll tell you why. Allow me to play devil’s advocate, if you please…

Antonio Margarito will pull off the upset and defeat Miguel Cotto by 10th round KO.

Here is why:

First of all, the Tijuana Tornado stands at 5’11”, while Cotto is a 5’7” tank. Perhaps even more importantly, Margarito holds a 6-inch reach advantage. Cotto, meanwhile, has not faced an opponent as tall as Margarito since Cesar Bazan in 2003. Cotto won the vacant WBC International Light Welterweight title in the bout with an 11th round TKO, but Bazan is hardly a world-beater and certainly not Margarito.

Margarito, in fact, has not lost to anyone shorter than him in over 12 years. Sure, Paul Williams and Daniel Santos troubled him, but they’re both giant and left-handed, two things that Miguel Cotto is not (even though he will switch to a southpaw stance at times).

Theoretically, Antonio Margarito can control this fight as long as he punches regularly and with a purpose to prevent Cotto from getting inside. Cotto can and will walk through lazy punchers, but Margarito is the man that threw 1675 punches against Joshua Clottey, breaking a 13 year old Compubox record. And he’s no light puncher either.

Even notorious fader Zab Judah managed to hurt Cotto as deep as the 7th round. How will Cotto handle bombs reigning down from on top of him from the likes of Antonio Margarito? Not well.

There is a reason that fighters like Sugar Shane Mosley, Ricardo Mayorga, and Floyd Mayweather Jr. avoided Margarito. The man is a match-up nightmare, plain and simple. He’s a big, bad man in the land of the welterweights. Paul Williams beat him by simply slapping him around for 12 rounds, utilizing a reach advantage that Cotto will not have. Cotto is stronger than Williams, but he will have a far more difficult time hitting Margarito without absorbing punishment.

And it’s no surprise that Margarito doesn’t lose to shorter orthodox fighters. No one has been able to weather his storm, period. Granted, he has never faced Miguel Cotto before. Cotto is a true ring warrior and could be able to swallow Margarito’s medicine with grin.

But the point is that Cotto has never faced a man of Margarito’s size and power. And it’s possible that Cotto is making the mistake that his predecessors were scared to make by stepping into the ring with the Tornado.

A fight like this often comes down to desire. For a pugilist like Cotto, he’s got bigger fish to fry. If he wins this bout, bigger fights beckon. With Mayweather gone, this one can make Cotto a true brand name. And this applies to Margarito as well, but Cotto is the undefeated scrapper in his athletic prime at 27 years old. Margarito has 3 years and 5 losses on Cotto.

There is no bigger moment than the present for someone like Margarito, who was humbled by his loss to Williams. How badly did he want this fight? How much does he want to take down Cotto? He wanted it bad enough that he threw down his IBF belt without a second thought (and who can blame him?). He knew he was better than Cintron. Now he wants to show the world he’s better than Cotto.

TSS Universe: What are your thoughts? Is Margarito being overlooked a little too much? Or am I desperately trying to make the fight seem more competitive than it actually is?