If steam actually did come out of a person?s ears when they were angry, Miguel Cotto would have looked like an overheated industrial-sized furnace as he spoke of Antonio Margarito.
Cotto was pummeled by Margarito and stopped in the 11th round of a highly anticipated welterweight title bout in Las Vegas on July 26, 2008, in what essentially was a legal mugging.
But when an illegal knuckle pad was found in Margarito?s hand wraps prior to a Jan. 24, 2009, bout in Los Angeles with Shane Mosley, Cotto began to suspect that the beating that had been inflicted upon him wasn?t entirely on the level.
Cotto?s face lumped up like an egg carton after Margarito relentlessly walked him down and eventually stopped him in the 11th, twice forcing Cotto to take a knee to escape further punishment. But when Cotto learned of what had been discovered in Margarito?s gloves before the Mosley fight, Cotto?s perception of his fight with Margarito changed dramatically.
It was difficult for Cotto not to conclude that Margarito?s gloves were loaded when they had fought six months earlier.
?I don?t have to talk about that fight,? Cotto told Yahoo! Sports. ?It?s past.?
With the rematch for Cotto?s World Boxing Association super welterweight belt in New York looming a little more than two months away, promoter Bob Arum is whisking Cotto and Margarito around North America to drum up publicity for the bout Madison Square Garden.
