We all saw Puerto Rico's current boxing star, Miguel Cotto, take an amazing beatdown at the hands of Mexico's Antonio Margarito. Those who follow boxing may not have been dramatically surprised, for Cotto had shown weak points in his armor during earlier fights.
Now, 6 months later, we finally discover that Cotto's loss is now very suspect.
On January 24th, 2009, Margarito battled Sugar Shane Mosley. Mosley gave him a boxing lesson. Margarito really never stood a chance from the opening bell. What was the difference?
While checking the hand wraps of Margarito pre-fight (against Mosley) they found a foreign substance or device, and forced his hands to be re-wrapped. While in the Olympics cheating would be punished by immediate disqualification, the professional boxing world is ruled by the box office and the money that makes millionaires. Perhaps this is why the fight went on and we received very little detail on what was discovered.
However, something happened, because both Margarito and his corner man, Javier Capetillo, were suspended by the California Athletic Commission. You can see the official notice from Tim Noonan, Chairman, at FightNews.com.
The foreign substance could have been wet plaster which quickly drys, turning the fists into crushing weapons... a very old trick from the old days of the boxing world.
If Cotto really did get plastered (which is plausible now) in his fight with Margarito, then we might be able to reset that "0" in his loss column.
But what's next? He's fighting a tune up against an apparently over matched opponent on the "Big Loser PPV" being marketed here in Puerto Rico. It also features Kelly Pavlick against a relative unknown, after getting schooled by 40+ veteran of the ring Bernard Hopkins. Not much to offer for the almost $50 PPV fee being advertised!
A repeat with Mosley? For now it's a tune up bout:
The two fights will be on the same night at different locations on February 21st, 2009:
Miguel Cotto VERSUS Michael Jennings of Chorley, England
Vacant WBO Welterweight Championship
Madison Square Garden, New York
Kelly Pavlick VERSUS Marco Antonio Rubio of Mexico
WBC Middleweight World Title
Chevrolet Center in Youngstown, Ohio
Here you can find Cotto's fight schedule and historical win/loss record.
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