Cotto punishes Margarito to avenge earlier loss

NEW YORK — Fueled by an exuberant crowd, Miguel Cotto targeted the eye. Cotto unloaded so many punishing uppercuts and head shots to Antonio Margarito, the Mexican star's right eye was sealed shut.

In your face: Miguel Cotto punches Antonio Margarito during their fight on Saturday in New York. Cotto won the bout via TKO. AP

A crowd of 21,239 at Madison Square Garden gasped — then roared for Cotto to continue — as the squeamish scene flashed on the big screen.

Cotto finished the job in front of his fellow flag-waving Puerto Ricans and retained his WBA super welterweight title, battering Margarito over nine lopsided rounds before winning a TKO decision amid confusion in the corner before they came out for the 10th on Saturday night.

Three years after he took a knee in defeat, Cotto fought his heart out in the rematch.

Cotto (37-2-0) earned a punishing measure of payback for his loss to Margarito three years ago. With the New York crowd going wild for Cotto, the Puerto Rican champ was never seriously threatened and retained his 154-pound (70-kg) title, shuttering Margarito's right eye to cause the stoppage.

Cotto stared down Margarito in his corner after the bout was stopped.

"Just to look at him and taste my victory on him," Cotto said. "He means nothing to me. I'm here with all my crowd and all my people. He means nothing to me."

Margarito beat Cotto in July 2008, only to later have his career and reputation tarnished when he used illegal hand wraps before a loss to Shane Mosley. Margarito didn't box again for more than a year.

He needed surgery to repair a fractured orbital bone following a loss to Manny Pacquiao last year and considered retirement. The New York State Athletic Commission didn't license Margarito until Nov. 22 after ordering another examination of his eye.

Cotto believed Margarito also used illegal hand wraps in their first fight and claimed he had the photos to prove it.

Cotto said he noticed "something strange, something weird" in their first fight. His face swelled up in ways it shouldn't have.

"My face now is a lot different than last time," a smiling Cotto said.

Margarito looked different, too — and it wasn't just the cornrows.His eye needed 12 stitches.

Margarito never wanted to quit. His corner barked at ringside doctors and begged for one more round, insisting Margarito could still go. Doctors saw it another way.

Cotto took quick aim on the eye and by the third round it was already closing. By the seventh, it was swollen shut.

With one eye, Margarito gamely fought on, hoping for that one brutal blow that could change the fight. Half blind, he never had a chance. Ring doctor Anthony Curreri stopped the fight even though 3 seconds ticked off in the 10th round. The fighters never met in the center of the ring.

"It came to the point there was no vision at all from the eye," Curreri said. "I think it would have been dangerous for him to go out there without any visual field. He did go quite a bit with the eye impaired."

Referee Steve Smoger did not know what the doctor wanted, causing confusion at the end.

Margarito insisted he could continue, though he was way behind on the scorecards.

The Tijuana Tornado stopped Cotto in the 11th round in Las Vegas in their first meeting.

Cotto took any issues of legality out of this one from the opening round. The sellout crowd at MSG honked horns, waved the Puerto Rico flag and absolutely went wild for all things Cotto — starting with his entrance to the opening strains of The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army."

Nothing could hold Cotto back.

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