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Miguel Cotto turns down Margarito, goes back-and-forth with Figueroa

Ain't Gonna Be No Rematch: Miguel Cotto says Antonio Margarito has no credibility, and won't get a rematch with him in 2010. (Photo via a.espncdn.com)

Ain't Gonna Be No Rematch: Miguel Cotto says Antonio Margarito has no credibility, and won't get a rematch with him in 2010. (Photo via a.espncdn.com)

Despite Antonio Margarito's delusional claims that he'd "allow for" a rematch with Miguel Cotto next year if he's re-licensed in the States, don't expect that fight to ever happen. Miguel Cotto shot it down and left no second-guessing about the matter.

"I don't care about anything Margarito has to say. He lost all of his credibility, benefits and consideration in boxing. When it comes to Miguel Cotto, he will not earn another penny," Cotto told Puerto Rico's AP.

Simple, direct, and to the point. Expect Margarito to find this response from anyone legit and with any other options in the sport, even if he's re-licensed next year. Nobody's ever going to want to risk fighting this guy again except for guys who have nothing to lose. Even if he gets back in the States and even with Top Rank's help, Margarito is going to have an awful time getting legit fights again.

Cotto also spoke out about the dismissal of Frankie Figueroa from his training camp. Figueroa was brought in to spar with Cotto, who needs quick southpaws to prepare for Manny Pacquiao. There just aren't that many of them of relative size, and even fewer who can at all mimic Pacquiao's style. Figueroa being booted from the camp was a surprise to everyone, as it left Cotto with very inexperienced partners Kenny Abril and Fred Tukes.

Cotto told El Nuevo Dia about the situation:

"We work seriously here, no one is here to clown around and be mocking. The sparring partner is here to help us and make us work, not to clown with his hands down and show off. There are two kinds of fighters, those who elevate their skills in fights and those who elevate their skills in sparring. 'Gato' is one that likes to elevate in sparring."

Figueroa responded in a press release:

"Don't try to play me with all this 'Gato wasn't serious' or that I was clowning you with my hands low. Who the hell do you think you're fighting? Margarito? This is Pacquiao, goddamn it! This dude is a beast! He is for real! Pacquiao fights with his hands low, or midway, and punches from all over the damn place. I've sparred many great fighters, Sugar, Berto, Hatton, Gatti, and never have they complained. They endured or went back to their corners to figure out how they can handle me. I'm not a sparring partner, I'm a fighter! It's not my fault I was frustrating the s**t out of you with the 'Gato' moves and the Pacquiao punches coming from all angles. That's what your team is for, to figure out how to stop it, but if you wanted to run your own camp, that's your damn problem."

...

"After we sparred, you could feel the tension in the air 'cause I was doing my thang thang. I was the only damn sparring partner putting the massive pressure on you, from the counter attacks to the first offensive attacks, every damn thing! ... You was just mad 'cause you couldn't catch me, 'El Gato,' AKA the best sparring partner you had for this mega-fight. Seemed like I wanted it more than you."

As with most everything, there are surely two sides to the story, and I doubt Figueroa's "Gato moves" were the reason he was sent away. If I had to really hazard a guess, I'd lean toward believing Cotto's side more than Figueroa's, but that comes with the big asterisk that they both know and I don't. This is a big circle of trash talk either way. Cotto fired Figueroa, Figueroa started yammering about his "Gato moves," Cotto said Figueroa wasn't serious, Figueroa continued to describe his "Gato moves" and his "thang thang." Life will move on, but I still find it risky that Cotto let Figueroa go. Frankie was the best fighter he had in camp and Miguel's going to need good sparring, which is something Pacquiao has in spades.

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I believe that Cotto had his hands full with Gato in sparring. Gato is a borderline top 10 Jr Welter. the guy can fight. I could see him giving Cotto fits with his style and clowning.

And with a tense camp going into a big fight they might have just reacted quickly and sent him home. Like you said, you don’t send home by far your best sparring partner, settling for a couple of noobs heading into the biggest fight of your life. I think there’s some fire behind that Gato smoke.

by Upstait on Oct 24, 2009 4:32 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

I don’t think he’s even close to top 10 at 140, not really so much because he’s bad or anything, but that division is really good and really deep.

Bad Left Hook
"Well Howie, I think I'm going to stay outside and outjab him." -- Tex Cobb telling Howard Cosell how he would approach Larry Holmes

by SC on Oct 24, 2009 4:54 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Really good? Eh. Really deep? Yes.

Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on Oct 24, 2009 5:46 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Your NY homerism is blinding you. As I’m sure you remember, in his last two fights, he got a gift against Augustus and was blown out of the water by Randall Bailey. Off the top of my head, Hatton, Bradley, Diaz, Malinaggi, Campbell, Alexander, Khan, Urango, Kotelnik and Witter are 10 Jnr. Welters that are objectively ranked higher then Gato. If he was from LA, you wouldn’t even consider him top 50.

by tichbou on Oct 24, 2009 6:11 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I agree that they are all better. But doesn't borderline mean 11 or 12? You could legitamitely have Gato in ur top 12.

I’ve seen much worse guys then Gato win a WT. The guy can fight and his style would give Cotto some problems. So if Cotto booted him out of camp for having a couple good rounds and then clowning then getting thrown out of a tense camp it shouldnt shock anyone. And his win over augustus wasn’t a gift, that fight could have gone either way and Augustus has given a lot of guys problems so thats not a great point.

by Upstait on Oct 25, 2009 7:37 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I feel like I could keep listing guys.

by tichbou on Oct 25, 2009 8:28 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

You could totally put Bailey ahead of him. idk. I’d prolly put Victor Ortiz ahead of him. After the first 15 or whatever, it gets pretty subjective.

by tichbou on Oct 25, 2009 9:09 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I think him and Victor Ortiz are close. Victor Ortiz hasn't beaten anyone and in his last fight he quit. But top 15 sounds good.

But I mean if you are Gato life could be worse -he.could be David Spade abusing the memory of dead buddy Chris Farley in a DirecTV ad.

by Upstait on Oct 25, 2009 9:23 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I would probably have him in the 30-40 range at JWW

Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on Oct 25, 2009 10:39 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Gato

He’s okay, but I wouldn’t put him at the world class level. He’s a good regional fighter. He got pretty well smashed by Randall Bailey, who wouldn’t be in my top 15. He’s about on par with guys like Mike Arnaoutis, IMO.

Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on Oct 26, 2009 10:38 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

And everyone has forgotten a certain Ring LWW Champion....

Boxing is the beginning of all sports. I'm willing to bet that the first sport was a man against another man in a fight. (Omar Epps)

by Chaos100 on Oct 26, 2009 1:44 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

 The Berto fight besides round 1 and the round where Cotto trapped him in the corner for a good 2 minutes, Cotto was a shell of himself. And now this? I have a feeling Cotto was frustrated with Figueroa for two reasons. One, Figueroas mouth. Two, because Figueroa really was applying all kinds of preasure and Cotto wasn’t comfortable with it.

Just call me The Profit

by Manuwar on Oct 25, 2009 2:01 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

I think you mean Clottey

And I don’t think he was a shell of himself. Clottey was the third best opponent he ever faced and has a tricky defensive style. He’s gotten into some bad habits lately, like headhunting instead of going to the body, but I didn’t really see a big difference between the Cotto of the Clottey fight and the Cotto of the Mosley fight.

Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on Oct 25, 2009 2:30 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

oops I did mean Clottey. Anyway I still feel like it was more of Clotteys doing that forced Cotton into the mentioned bad habbits.

Just call me The Profit

by Manuwar on Oct 25, 2009 11:49 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I'm with Brickhaus here

Cotto certainly did a lot more backing out in that fight than we’re used to seeing, but it was a tactical adjustment he had to make when it became clear he couldn’t see Clottey’s right hand. He couldn’t do his usual body work in that fight for the same reason. That cut screwed up his entire game plan, and he was still able to escape with a win.

Now, if he gets cut and tries to apply the same tactics against Pacquiao, he’s in big trouble.

"Karma - there it was. The meaning of life, straight from Carson Daly's lips to my morphine-laced ears." -Earl Hickey

by BLee2525 on Oct 25, 2009 2:10 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Roach's take on Stone Hands

He called Margarito a cheater and said that what he did was attempted murder. Also that he should be banned for life from the sport. I can imagine most trainers and some promoters feel this way as well (yeah I implied that promoters can have a moral system). I think the likelihood of him getting a big fight from the master of plaster disaster is pretty much nil.

by waldo47 on Oct 25, 2009 2:14 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Roach also entertained the idea of training Margarito if he came back, so whatever. Roach says whatever he wants to say that day.

Bad Left Hook
"Well Howie, I think I'm going to stay outside and outjab him." -- Tex Cobb telling Howard Cosell how he would approach Larry Holmes

by SC on Oct 26, 2009 12:41 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Figueroa’s stupid press releases are probably what got him thrown out of camp, trying to draw attention to himself and his own upcoming fight….that’s not professional behavior, fighters with bigger names than his routinely spar with with each other but you won’t hear an Urbano Antillon brag about how he was giving Pacquiao trouble…if Cotto loses, i can smell another press release of his saying i told you so and calling out Cotto….this guy’s a loser, lets not give him any more attention

by JohnUtah on Oct 25, 2009 6:23 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Antillion didn't brag

Because Pacquiao didn’t kick him out of camp for challenging him.

Gimme 1 round!

by ItBurnzWhenIP on Oct 25, 2009 8:36 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

cotto’s used gato before, difference this time is gato’s been putting out press releases and videos throughout the whole process dating back to even before he left new york http://www.youtube.com/user/teamgato#p/a/u/0/1kKC5qOjOkg , trying to build up his name…this isn’t boxingscene running into him for a quick soundbyte, all these are comiing from the man himself

by JohnUtah on Oct 25, 2009 9:42 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I believe Figueroa

Fighters don’t like to get shown up in their own camp. Oscar fired Valero when Valero hit him harder than Oscar wanted to be hit… Joe Lewis fired Jersey Joe Walcott when he floored his ass in sparring. Cotto is gonna get torn to shreds by Pacman. Hearing this I’m thinking I really might take that KO1 that Roach is talking about.

Gimme 1 round!

by ItBurnzWhenIP on Oct 25, 2009 8:33 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Was that Valero?

I thought it was Ortiz that was smashing Oscar around just before the Pacquiao fight. I remember them saying something about him living up to the “Vicious” nickname….

Not saying you’re wrong, it may have happened with Valero too, just asking…. :)

Boxing is the beginning of all sports. I'm willing to bet that the first sport was a man against another man in a fight. (Omar Epps)

by Chaos100 on Oct 26, 2009 1:47 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I remember the Ortiz story too. Apparently it was one of the reasons Roach was sure Oscar was shot.

by Drunken cutman on Oct 26, 2009 3:11 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Good for Miggy for not rematching that fucker Margarito.

If the commissions won’t do the right thing and ban the guy for life, fighters and promoters should just blacklist him and refuse to make fights with him.

Except for Shane. I never get tired of watching Shane kick his ass around the ring.

Although detractors decry (MMA) as a brutal, bloody form of human cockfighting, aficionados know it is a brutal, bloody, totally fucking awesome form of human cockfighting. -The Onion

by The Kittitas Kid on Oct 25, 2009 8:38 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

cotto’s response was terse yet perfect. straight up. what i’d expect from cotto

Gatti. Dekkers. Pele. Aoki. Kang. Vanderlei.
http://theworldsoldestsport.blogspot.com/

by theworldsoldestsport on Oct 28, 2009 12:19 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs


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