Antonio Margarito 11th Round Knockout of Miguel Cotto

Miguel Cotto tried to be Floyd Mayweather and what we learned is that Miguel Cotto isn't Floyd Mayweather. It is one thing to run, but it is another thing to run and get hit. Cotto figured out fairly quickly that he wasn't going to be able to stand in the middle of the ring and brawl with Antonio Margarito. So a boxer known for systematically destroying his opponent's will to fight did the unthinkable. He got on his bicycle and ran. At that point, I knew he was destined to lose.

Go outside and run 100 yards forward and then run 100 yards backwards and tell me which one puts more of a strain on your body. If you are someone like Floyd Mayweather who has been boxing going backwards his entire career, it is second nature. But it was going to be extremely difficult for someone like Cotto who has been going forward the majority of his career to try to switch up. You add to that getting hit in his body, jaw, arms, shoulders or wherever else the brick-handed Margarito could find, it added up to a long night.

One thing the biased HBO broadcast never brought up was that, while COMPUBOX records clean shots to the head and body, it has no way to know how many of those shots that miss but hit other parts of the body have an effect on a boxer. Cotto may have landed more "clean shots", but I don't care who you are, if you get hit with 130 shots a round, regardless if they are clean or not, that is going to take its toll.

Margarito took Cotto's best shot and kept coming. From the middle of the first round to the time Cotto took a knee, Margarito just kept coming and kept throwing. It would have been hard for any boxer including Floyd Mayweather to be able to stand up to that kind of pressure over 11 rounds. Margarito wasn't the better "boxer", but he was the better "fighter". He didn't win because of one great punch (even though that uppercut was sick). He won because he took Cotto's heart and soul. To me, that made it a much greater victory than if it were just a spectacular one-shot knockout.

It is ironic, to me, that Cotto was defeated in the same way he had defeated all his other opponents. He had will, desire and heart taken from him. It was pretty classless for him to leave the ring, but when you've been embarrassed and, in essence, given up to the point where you didn't want to take the pounding anymore, I shouldn't have been surprised his final run was right out of the ring.

Margarito has been saying for years he was the most feared and ducked fighter in boxing. Today, though, he doesn't have to worry about being ducked because they all will have to come to him and I guarantee they aren't looking forward to it.