“Almost” like I predicted yesterday, Antonio Margarito defeated Miguel Cotto in a TKO victory. Margarito’s insane amount of pressure built as the bout wore on and eventually wilted Cotto in round 11. By the time the fight ended, Cotto had already been to the floor once and his face was very bloodied. The camera panned over to Miguel’s wife and child who were sitting ringside, and they were both crying… so that gives you an idea of the amount of punishment he took in the last round.

Cotto was originally winning the fight through the first six rounds, he easily outboxed the slower Margarito and continually beat him to the punch. However, Margarito was like a war tank….everything Cotto threw seemed to bounce right off of him. Antonio charged forward for 11 straight rounds until Cotto simply couldn’t take it anymore.

One thing that seemed interesting is that when Max Kellerman asked Margarito if he would take a rematch with Paul Williams, the man who defeated him last year, Margarito seemed more interested in boxing Oscar De La Hoya.

Is he dodging Paul Williams? Or simply chasing a big money fight with the Golden Boy?

Theres nothing better than seeing two fighters you don’t like square off against each other. No matter how things turn out you’re going to go to bed happier than you did the night before.

Now that Floyd Mayweather is retired (for the moment), these two gentlemen are the top ranked welterweights on the planet. Each fighter is known for wanting to mix it up and exchange punches, Cotto will gladly take a few shots to the jaw in order to land his own and the same can be said for Margarito. Due to this fact, many in the boxing community are predicting this to be the fight of the year.

With the amount of firepower these guys have, I just can’t see the fight going past 7 rounds. I regard Margarito to be the stronger of the two, and for that reason alone I’m picking him to walk away the winner. Cotto has been wobbled by lesser fighters in the past, and I just can’t overlook that. However, if the fight goes past round 7, the edge goes to Cotto due to his punishing body attacks (but I really don’t think it’ll go that far).

Below is a little “pre-fight hype” promo, and below the video are a few thoughts I have regarding these fighters and Floyd Mayweather..

Bob Arum, the promoter for this pay-per-view bout, insists that both Mr. Cotto and Mr. Margarito would have beaten Mr. Mayweather: “Floyd did not want any part of either of them. But if he hadn’t retired, this fight would have been shrugged off by the public as a mere elimination contest for a chance to meet Mayweather.”

Comments like that KILL me. One of the statements that are thrown around so much lately is “Floyd Mayweather turned down EIGHT MILLION dollars to fight Antonio Margarito!! He must be scared!!”

Hardly.

Floyd Mayweather didn’t fight Antonio Margarito because he had nothing to gain by doing so. In the latter part of his career, Floyd was all about making an impact and doing big name fights, the average person has absolutely no idea who Margarito is. Also.. lets not forget Floyd turned down TWENTY MILLION to rematch with De La Hoya, a man who he has already beaten.

I know it hurts your brain when you do this, but try to use a little logic, turning down 8 miillion doesn’t mean you’re scared of someone if you’ve turned down 20 million for a fight you know you can win. It clearly wasn’t about the money in this case.

Floyd will be back next year, and he’ll mop the floor with one of these guys, mark my words.

In what will probably be the smartest decision he’s ever made, Ricky Hatton turned down a big money fight against Oscar De La Hoya this September.

“It would be too soon; Richard only fought two weeks ago,” Ray Hatton, the boxing champion’s father and manager, told British Broadcasting Corp. Sport. “Oscar likes to fight in September because of Mexican Independence Day, but Richard is chilling out at the moment.”

It has absolutely NOTHING to do with the date of the fight and everything to do with the fact that Oscar De La Hoya is just too big and talented for Ricky. Hatton’s fight with Floyd Mayweather was a clear signal that the welterweight division is just too much, and Ricky needed to move back down to the 141 pound range.

If you want to be completely truthful, Oscar was too big for Floyd also, but Mayweather is such an elite athlete he was able to skill himself to a win. The real question in this entire matter is, how will Ricky Hatton have a successful career if he can’t fight any true welterweights?

The welterweight division is where all the big money fights are, but Cotto, Williams, Margarito, Mosley, and Cintron are just too big for Ricky to take on. Where do you see him taking his career from this point on?