On this HBO Boxing Classic, WBA World Welterweight Champion Miguel Cotto faced Antonio Margarito to defend his title belt.
The boxing welterweight title Miguel Cotto vs Antonio Margarito fight video dubbed as “The Battle” took place last July 26, 2008 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA and aired on HBO PPV (Pay-Per-View).
Purto Rican boxer Miguel Cotto, “Junito”, back then had a professional record of a perfect 32 wins (26 by way of knock out, KO). After having a successful two-year reign as WBO Junior Welterweight Champion, he moved up in weight and won the vacant WBA World Welterweight title with a victory over Carlos Quintana in December 2006.
Miguel then defended his belt over Oktay Urkal, Zab Judah, Shane Mosley and Alfonso Gomez.
While Mexican boxer Antonio Margarito, “El Tornado de Tijuana”, back then had a professional record of 36 wins (26 by way of knock out, KO), 5 losses and 1 no contest. After his successful rematch with Kermit Cintron wherein he won the IBF World Welterweight title belt, the IBF ordered him to fight a mandatory defense against the organization’s number-one contender, Joshua Clottey, whom he had previously defeated in 2006.
Rather than agreeing to a rematch against the top contender, Antonio vacated the IBF title and agreed to a fight with the undefeated WBA titlist.
The Cotto vs Margarito video was a welterweight division title match with Miguel’s WBA belt at stake.
During the early rounds of that bout, Miguel had taken the early initiative by frequently landing a series of punches on Antonio while using his footwork to avoid danger. However, the challenger presented constant offensive pressure and eventually began to wear down the champion’s resistance by trapping him against the ropes.
In the seventh round, Cotto was hurt after receiving a pair of uppercuts that caused his nose to bleed. Margarito continued to chase him down and inflicted further damage towards the end of the tenth round. The challenger then threw a series of punches at the start of the eleventh, with Miguel against the ropes and bleeding profusely.
A combination from Antonio finally forced Miguel to his knee. The champ got up, but Antonio continued landing combinations. His trainer Evangelista Cotto threw in the towel after Miguel fell again to the canvas in the corner of the ring.
Antonio Margarito (37-5-0) defeated Miguel Cotto (32-1-0) via 11th Round Technical Knock Out (TKO) to win the WBA World Welterweight title belt.
At the time of the stoppage, Antonio was ahead by two rounds on two of the judges’ scorecards, with one judge scored it even.
Miguel’s first professional career loss to Antonio has since come under suspicion due to the latter’s subsequent attempted use of illegal hand-wraps in a fight against Mosley.
Watch the Miguel Cotto vs Antonio Margarito video replay highlights:
Highlights
After this, Antonio fought Shane Mosley on January 24, 2009, check the Margarito vs Mosley video.
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