Do We Need to See Margarito-Cotto II?

This past Sunday, it was exactly one year since Tijuana’s Antonio Margarito was caught with illegal hand wraps prior to his WBA championship bout against veteran “Sugar” Shane Mosley at Los Angeles, CA’s Staple Center.

That night was to be the official coming out party of Mexico’s newest star but instead it dealt Margarito a one year suspension of his boxing license weeks later when he faced the California State Athletic Comission along with his trainer Javier Capetillo. Since then, Margarito has laid low, not making any appearances which he was known for in southern California or in his hometown of Tijuana.

Now Bob Arum, President of Top Rank and Margarito’s promoter, has announced that the “Tijuana Tornado” will be touching down in the semi-main event of the Pacquiao-Clottey mega fight at Cowbody Stadium in Dallas, TX, on March 13th. His opponent will be the unheralded Carson Jones (24-7-1, 15KO) who has vowed to punish Margarito (37-6, 27KO) for his past transgressions.

Not too long ago, Michael Marley of TheExaminer.com reported that Arum had mentioned in passing that if Pacquiao and Margarito get past their pending opponents, that he would not be opposed of facing both fighters against each other in September. If for whatever reason said bout could not come to fruition, Arum would opt to facing Margarito once again against Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto in a rematch of their 2008 war.

Do we really need to see Margarito-Cotto II?

In their much anticipated first bout, after a rough beginning, Margarito was able to systematically destroy Cotto forcing the boricua’s corner to throw in the towel in the eleventh round and handing Cotto, the WBA champion at the time, his first loss.

So what would be different the second time around? Margarito was able to survive Cotto’s initial attack of speed, hard body shots and accurate upper cuts to be able to pressure the Puerto Rican against the ropes and punish him into submission. The tough Cotto tried to weather the storm but to no avail as Margarito’s conditioning and punch output was too much. Last November, Manny Pacquiao was able to repeat the blueprint, pressuring Cotto with in much the same way as Margarito although the Filipino superstar was the physically much smaller man.

Obviously Cotto would have to change his strategy in trying to defeat Margarito but who would teach it to him? Since leaving his long time trainer and uncle, Evangelista Cotto, the former world champion has been trained by his previous conditioning coach, Jose Salgado. Salgado was the chief second in Cotto’s bouts against Joshua clottey and Manny Pacquiao. Cotto was awarded a split decision over Pacquiao’s next opponent and the aforementioned “Pacman” stopped Cotto in twelve rounds.

I don’t see Cotto being able to do anything different and it would be Margarito’s fight to lose.

So which fights make sense for Margarito’s comeback year?

It is no lie that a Margarito-Cotto rematch would generate quite a substantial payday for both fighters and huge interest could be generated by the Top Rank machine. I just don’t believe that it would be as exciting as the first.

At this point, I believe that a Paul Williams-Margarito rematch would be more enticing since their first fight held in 2007 was a much closer affair with the 6’1″ Williams walking away with the split decision ending Margarito’s five year reign as the WBO welterweight champion. Since that bout, Williams has raised his visibility on the boxing radar with wins over Carlos Quintana (who Williams lost his title too in 2008) and Verno Phillips, Winky Wright and Sergio Martinez.

Mayweather-Margarito? Unlikely since Mayweather refused an $8 million payday in 2006 and opted to buy out his contract with Top Rank and fight Carlos Baldomir for one dollar more so as not to lose face. If Mayweather decided to leave a potential $40 Million purse on the table because he suspected Manny Pacquiao of using illegal substances, why would he consider to fight Margarito after his suspension?

A viable option would be for Margarito to leave the welterweight division and once again travel north to the 154 lbs. weight limit and take on the likes of WBC champ Sergio Martinez who he already defeated in 2000 via 7th round TKO. Since then, Martinez has become a more attractive opponent who a bout against would garner a bigger payout. Another entertaining suggestion would be a Margarito-Angulo slug fest reminiscent of their reported wars in Los Angeles area gyms. Ultimately the 5’11” Margarito could travel to the middleweight division and earn paychecks against the likes of Kelly Pavlik or any other current 160 lbs. champs.

The first step in this saga should be on March 13th.