|
Carnage in New York... by
Angel Rodriguez
If looks could kill, then Madison Square
Garden will be a defacto Mexican's firing squad tonight when Antonio
Margarito faces Miguel Cotto and the approximately 40,000 Puerto Rican
eyeballs shooting bullets at the Mexicans soul. Does Cotto have enough
in the tank to be the physical manifestation of the spiritual menace
directed toward the now droopy-eyed villain at the same arena where
Billy Collins Jr. was broken by Luis Resto and his non-padded boxing
gloves nearly 30 years ago? Or will Antonio Margarito confirm that the
better man probably won three years ago fair and square by reprising his
2008 victory in Cotto's home arena?
I believe both fighters are almost shot and
they know it, therefore wanted to finish unsettled business, redeem their
name, and set up one more big money fight before their diminished state
gets exposed by a dangerous young champion. Both pugilists have been
taking severe punishment while exhibiting slower reflexes in the majority
of their respective fights since they squared off against each other 3
years ago.
The extent of the damage was made evident
by Cotto earning every penny of his purse versus a faded Ricardo Mayorga
this past March while Margarito was throttled and disfigured by the
Filipino zeitgeist for Boricua karma in Manny Pacquiao last November.
Nevertheless, some of the best bouts in
boxing history are comprised of a pair of faded champions who have one
last hurrah in their battered bones i.e, Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield,
Arturo Gatti vs. Mickey Ward, etc. The real question is whether the
quicker and slicker Cotto's reflexes are too battered to pull off the
stick-and-move clinic that Miguel executed flawlessly in the first six
rounds of Cotto vs. Margarito I.
The bigger question is whether the Puerto
Rican will have the disposition to stick to a disciplined technical bout
instead of going berserk trying to punch the cholo's droopy eye out like
Darryl Hannah being introduced to a lifetime eye patch after the Shaolin
grandmaster teacher plucked her eyeball out in the Quentin Tarantino
movie, "Kill Bill."
I believe that Cotto has the will and skill
to beat Margarito by a close decision via vicious flatfooted brawl, but
will have to withstand punishment that his slowed reflexes won't allow him
to evade; that will in turn suck the last juices out of his boxing career.
==Become
BRC's friend in Facebook==
For Fight Recaps between January and June 2010, click
here...
For Fight Recaps between January and May 2009, click
here...
Fight Recaps - Part I - (January-May 2009)
For Fight Recaps starting June 2009, click
here...
Fight Recaps - Part II - (June-December 2009)
12-3-2011
|