The Roberto Flack Chronicles

Only one word can describe Saturday night’s fight between Miguel Cotto & Antonio Margarito…Amazing. The build up for this fight wasn’t that of a Floyd vs Oscar, but it didn’t need to be. Both guys were known for punishing their opponents with Cotto being the more skilled of the two and Margarito being the stronger puncher.

The first half of the fight saw Cotto easily escaping Margarito’s lunging punches with hard counter lefts and 2-3 hit combos that seemed to confuse Margarito, but never stop him from moving forward. As the fight gradually went on Margarito’s output increased with Cotto trying to go on the defensive & seemed to tire out. In the 9th and 10th rounds you could see Cotto taking the brunt of Margarito’s onslaught until the 11th where Cotto took 2 hard upper cuts making him take a knee. Eventually Cotto’s corner threw in the towel to give Margarito his long awaited victory over the top Welterweight in the division.

Of course as many of you know, I’m a big Cotto supporter. Watching him lose killed me. With the continuous calls I received up until 1AM about the fight, I literally couldn’t go to sleep. But at the same time I’m a bit more intrigued as to what Cotto’s next move will be. It’s crazy to say he needs improvements in certain areas considering how well he fought. But he did make the mistake of head hunting Margarito instead of going to the body where much of his damage is done. His defense also wasn’t as great as what was made to be as he took a number of upper cuts down the middle which Margarito is known for. All the rumors are flying now that he may seek new trainers, management, etc. But at the end of the day, he has to fight his fight and that’s what turned the tide in Margarito’s favor.

It’s going to be interesting to see Cotto now and how he’ll adjust from taking his 1st loss and I can almost guarantee there’ll be a rematch in 2009, but for now Cotto has re-evaluate his position and bounce back and prove he’s still one of the top fighters in the world.