The two squared off in July at MGM Grand in Las Vegas for Cotto's welterweight world title. Cotto was undefeated and considered by most to be the best 147-pounder in the world. For the first half of the fight, he appeared to be all that as he dominated Margarito.
But Margarito took everything Cotto had.
"Margarito eats shots like they're Skittles, man," said trainer Nazim Richardson, who will be in "Sugar" Shane Mosley's corner next Saturday when Mosley challenges Margarito for the title at Staples Center.
Margarito gobbled up Cotto's punches and then proceeded to take Cotto apart, stopping him in the 11th round of a thriller.
Margarito, of Tijuana, was already popular as a two-time welterweight champion. Today, when Margarito walks into a fight venue as a guest, he is mobbed.
"Without a doubt, everywhere I go, now more people are coming up to me," Margarito said. "Everyone wants my autograph, everyone wants to take a picture with me. I think you can see the reflection in my popularity by the way the tickets are selling for this fight.
"Without a doubt, I think I've taken another step in my career."
Promoters recently released tickets to be sold in Staples Center's upper concourse after the initial 12,000 that went on sale for next Saturday's fight went like hotcakes. Lee Samuels, a spokesman for Top Rank Inc. - which promotes Margarito - said that approximately 17,000 tickets had been sold as of Friday.
"I think it's a tribute to the champion, Antonio Margarito, coming off this great victory against Miguel Cotto," said Bob Arum, chairman of Top Rank. "He has cemented his status as now being a big box-office attraction."
All because of intestinal fortitude, and one of boxing's best chins. :SIB
"The reason why Margarito won is he won on heart," Mosley said of Margarito's win over Cotto. "He didn't win on his skill and he didn't win because he was like the better fighter, really. He won because he had a great heart and because he broke Cotto down in the last two rounds before they stopped the fight."
And because of that granite-like chin. :scared
"I think it's something I was born with," Margarito said. "I really don't have any other answer, other than the fact that I get prepared very well for every fight, that my preparation allows me to take some punches.
"Not that I like to take punches and I would rather not take as many as that.
"In every fight I would like to take less, but I think I do have a good chin and I do prepare myself."
It's well-known that the better shape a fighter is in, the better he can take a punch. And if he is hurt, he will recover more quickly if he is in supreme condition.
This is a credo by which Margarito said he lives. He said he trains just as hard, whether it's for a young lion like Cotto or a 37-year-old war horse like Mosley. It's the only way to fly, regardless of how many more requests there now are for his time.
"Obviously, between fights there has been a lot of things to do, a lot of people wanting me to do things," said Margarito, 30. "But I always take two months for every fight. I've always done that. I stay away from everything for those two months and I just concentrate on fighting. When it's time to train, that's all I do is train."
That doesn't mean that Margarito hasn't basked in the glory that has come from his victory over Cotto, a victory that gave Mexico another notch in its belt in the long-running rivalry against Puerto Rican fighters.
"Without a doubt the Cotto fight was the best win of my career because at the time he was thought of as the best welterweight in the world," Margarito said. "So me beating him, obviously, was the biggest fight because now I'm the best one."
Margarito is 37-5 with 27 knockouts. Mosley is 45-5 with 38 knockouts. Their fight will be televised live on regular HBO.
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