The Former WBO/IBF Welterweight champion discusses his big rematch with WBA Super Welterweight champion Miguel Cotto, why the staunch Puerto Rican support for Miguel will not bother him, who is the best at 147-154, and more?
BoxingInsider: Madison Square Garden, with it?s full house of Puerto Rican boxing fans, is going to be emphatically against you on the night of December 3rd when you take on Puerto Rican hero Miguel Cotto in the rematch. Does the crowd support that will be against you, worry you that it could affect your performance?
Antonio Margarito: ?Not really. When I get to the ring it?s just Cotto and myself. It doesn?t bother me.?
BoxingInsider: What was the key to you beating Cotto the first time in Las Vegas in 2008?
Antonio Margarito: ?It was the preparation I did. A lot of training. I was in great shape, I threw a lot of punches and put a lot of pressure on him.?
BoxingInsider: Cotto said he has been in some violent ring battles in his career but can?t recall his face ever getting so bruised, battered and swollen as it was from your fists, your comment?
Antonio Margarito: ?Cotto took a really bad beating from Manny Pacquiao. You could see it in his face. Does that mean Manny Pacquiao was fighting with loaded gloves? I don?t think so.?
BoxingInsider: Out of Sergio Martinez, Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Mayweather, yourself ? who do you consider to be the top 3 of the 147-154 area of boxing?
Antonio Margarito: ?They?re all great champions and have something in common for me they?re all great. I don?t want to say which is best but Pacquiao has been one of the best ones.?
BoxingInsider: Are you annoyed about being treated and portrayed as the bad-guy villain despite, as you claim, you did nothing wrong? Why doesn?t that bother you if you are innocent?
Antonio Margarito: ?Everyone has a right to their opinion. I?m still calm, I feel good because I?ve never done anything wrong so that?s why I feel good about everything. I have nothing to feel bad about. And I?m just gonna be ready for the fight come December 3.?
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I also ask Margarito?s long-time manager Sergio Diaz about the crowd factor on December 3rd with will be against Margarito to the degree that promoter Lou Dibella thinks it might be the loudest night in Madison Square Garden history. And that the vehemence of the sellout Garden crowd could negatively affect Margarito, like Zaire did George Foreman. Diaz answered that Margarito really is not worried about that, ?Antonio said it?s like a soccer game, if the team can score the first goal they can quiet the crowd. When I land the punches, it will quiet the crowd. ?
