Was Anyone Else Surprised At Cotto's Lack Of Ability To Fight Under Pressure?

Cotto could have done a few things differently, but its also time for some of us to appreciate what Margarito brings to the ring.. The amount of toughness displayed tonight, along with the sort of power Margarito brings is a great combination, reminiscent of some great fighters of history.

It isn't very often you see the guy with far superior skills, decent power, and solid showing defeated by the guy who is a bit rough with his boxing skills, and always brings the same look. People said Margarito would work behind the jab and use his height, but I think we all really knew he would attempt to walk Cotto down. So, in the end Cotto even knew what Margarito's gameplan would be, and couldn't addapt.

Cotto showed the skillset he has, and its a very good one. He is a very good defensive fighter, but it takes far more conditioning to be able to fight defensively like he did for 12 rounds under that sort of pressure, no matter how many punches you block, or evade. Make no mistake about it, Cotto was making Margarito miss, and he was blocking a LOT of those punches. But, blocked punches, and walking backwards all night will wear a fighters legs out..

Fighters moving backwars have less pop on their punches, while fighters moving foward are going to have their power amplified.. Margarito throws a lot of hooking uppercut punches to the arms and body, he was taking advantage of these shots early on..

Great fight.. I don't think there is a whole lot Cotto could do to win a rematch unless he is able to take the center of the ring, use a lot of lateral movement, and work the body himself.. Either way, it ends up being a war.. If you trade, whether its to the body or to the head, you still trade with a more durable fighter.