The first fight Margarito walked him down and broke his heart and will. The rematch, cotto seemed in complete control. Whats the MAIN reason for this satisfyingly one sided beatdown? 1. Margarito is shot - Margarito is simply way way past it at this stage, while Cotto is still pretty close to his prime 2. Margarito's eye was ****ed - Margarito's cut early on hindered him badly, thats the main reason cotto was able to easily outbox him 3. Margarito's hands werent loaded - The first fight would have been just as bad as this if his hands werent loaded 4. Cotto is just a better fighter - 3 years ago was just a freak occurrence. Cotto is and has always been the better fighter 5. Cotto was saved by the ref - He would have been in serious trouble had it continued, and was gassing badly. 6. Cotto's gameplan - he fought margarito with much better tactics this time around and more intelligently. Fought the first fight all wrong
I voted for 6 simply because cotto was almost never against the ropes, and rather than using head movement to avoid shots he tied up when he needed to and "ran away" the other times... if he hadn't been doing this all night then perhaps margo would've landed a couple more good shots and perhaps the fight may have ended similar to the first... But I do definitely feel that margo had loaded wraps the first time around.
I voted for the first choice but, it could be NONE OF THE ABOVE. 3 YRS. 5 MONTHS LATER should be the correct answer.
Cottos Stamina - I think Cotto trained for a higher pace this fight, trained to fight going backwards, trained to be pressured, and just all around trained with more intensity this fight Cottos different tactics - How many times did he tie Margarito up the first fight? Then watch the second and see Miguel clinch, tie up, push Margarito back or push him off. Margarito would be a tough, grueling fight for Miguel 10 out of 10 times. If Cotto fights wrong or isnt fully, 100% prepared, he will lose.... if he comes in smart, trains to fight gonig backwards, and employs the right gameplan, it will be hard for Margarito to win. But make no mistake, Margarito is very much Cottos nemises in the ring. Cottos stamina and a better battle plan this time helped him get the victory, and its a credit to miguel for making the proper changes.