How much credit do you give Antonio Margarito for his victory over Miguel Cotto?

I hate Margarito, but there's no concrete proof that he had loaded his wraps in the Cotto fight. As incompetent as boxing can be, it's not easy to sneak plaster past the NSAC.

I feel he beat Cotto simply because he was too strong, and I feel he would have won the rematch if Pac hadn't forever destroyed his eye.

 

Minimal credit. The available circumstantial evidence suggests that his wraps were loaded in that fight too. The impact his punches had on Cotto didn’t make sense in real time and then he gets caught cheating in another fight?? I don’t see any reason to believe the fight was on the up and up.

 

Not to mention those same punches had virtually no effect on a considerably worse Cotto in the rematch

 

I dont. And before everyone starts screaming let me point out on fact: After the handwraps scandal Antonio never scored another KO.
And if you look at the damage on some of the boxers Antonio fought it was rather weird - almost like a blunt object was in use.
And if memory serves me correct it was suspected Antonio had been doing it all along esp from people that sparred him.

 

Can you elaborate on the sparring a bit more?
I had never heard about that

 

Unfortunately this thread will quickly be spammed and derailed by the usual suspect(s), but my take on the fight as i watched it live (on PPV) was that Margs was simply too big and too determined for Cotto. Miguel was something of a weight bully at 140 and had no qualms about slugging another man in his nuts when the going got rough. Cotto was good at everything but not great at any one thing. In Antonio he was up against a very large welterweight who was known for having an incredible gas tank and iron chin. Miguel the well-schooled boxer vs Antonio the attrition fighter and the bigger, attrition fighter won. It was a great fight and lived up to the hype.
Now ask yourselves this: at the end of the fight did anybody suspect or feel that something wasn’t right? Miguel was certainly lumped up but that’s pretty common. It’s not like he was beaten so badly he was unrecognizable. We’ve all seen the Dempsey / Willard massacre and Cotto was nothing even remotely close to that. As a matter of fact, Cotto had broken the cheek bone of Malinaggi but he wasn’t accused of loaded gloves.
If it wasn’t for the pre-fight controversy with Shane Mosley, would anyone suspect that Margarito had used loaded gloves in the past? I certainly wouldn’t have. Margs was never a big puncher. The Luajan fight seemed more of fluke than anything else. Paul Williams seemed to do just fine taking his punches when he decisioned Antonio. In fact, didn’t they set a record for punches thrown? Ultimately i cant say that he never cheated, and the Mosley scandal certainly looks very bad, but there just doesn’t seem to be enough to say that he was a lifelong cheater known for his power that was finally exposed. YMMV.

 

I believe a boxer that had sparred Antonio suffered damage to his orbital bone and he said it felt like rocks when he was getting hit. I think he tried to sue Antonio Margarito latter on

 

Rashard Halloway was the boxers name.

 

?
Amen brother!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love Margarito

 

A fantastic fight is what I remember about Margarito-Cotto. I give both of them immense credit.

 

This. Cotto lost fair and square. I also don’t buy into Margarito having plaster in his wraps. Cotto wasn’t used to someone just absorbing his punches like Margarito did and when it was obvious that his power was ineffective he didn’t change tactics and kept trading with Margarito and got broken down.

 

Cotto didnt lose fair and square Antonio cheated.
After the scandal broke how many KOs did Antonio score? 0. Where did the power go?

 

The Mosley preflight controversy is impossible to ignore and the shadow over Margarito’s career will never depart. But to play devils advocate, let me say this: Prior to Mosely, did you ever suspect that Antonio was loading his gloves in his previous fights? Or was it only after the Mosely debacle that you looked back and questioned his career?
As far as not scoring anymore knockouts? The Mosely fight and Pacquiao fights changed him forever. He was savagely beaten, no longer had his trainer, was turned on by many of his former fans, was despised by the boxing media, suspended from fighting in the US, etc etc.
It would’ve been easier on him personally and professionally if he had been accused of ****.