Cotto vs Margarito 2: What Was the Fight of the Night on Last Night's HBO Pay-Per-View?
by Scott Christ on Dec 4, 2011 8:58 PM EST
in Boxing Results and Post-Fight Analysis
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Last night's HBO pay-per-view came damn close to living up to the massive hype of being a loaded four-fight card of can't-miss fights, with three of the four bouts delivering excitement, blood, drama, and hard-hitting action.
So what was the fight of the night?
The greatest live reaction, obviously, was during the main event, as Miguel Cotto's Puerto Rican army of fans were blowing the roof off of Madison Square Garden while Cotto battered Antonio Margarito's eye, shutting it and stopping the villain after nine rounds of largely one-sided action.
[ Related: What's Next for Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito? ]
But how about Brandon Rios and John Murray? Those two had a fantastic war of attrition, with Murray meeting Rios head-on in the early rounds before "Bam Bam" got a second wind and started landing uppercut after uppercut, bloodying Murray and pounding out a stoppage win in the 11th round.
How about Pawel Wolak and Delvin Rodriguez? The hard-charging Pole and the sharp-punching Dominican put on another strong fight, which admittedly did not compare to their ultra-dramatic July Fight of the Year contender, but was a grueling test for both and a hard-earned win for Rodriguez?
And then there's Mike Jones and Sebastian Lujan. They did not have the Fight of the Night and I'm not even putting it on this poll, because your vote would be wrong if that was it.
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I voted Rios vs Murray
In order for me:
1. Rios vs Murray
2. Cotto vs Margarito (a distant second, but I love a big fight atmosphere)
3. Wolak vs Rodriguez
4. probably something from the deep undercard
somewhere else: Jones vs Lujan
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
They were all good
I felt a bit bad sometimes for the undercard fighters. They were fighting in a packed house but everyone was waiting for the big names.
These guys were all fighting their asses off and live in the Garden, it felt like they were doing it in a gym.
Hopefully on TV it served them better.
Almost all the figfhts had a similar dynamic; a taller leaner fighter fighting a shorter more compact one… with all of the key ones going to or very near the distance.
Rios was most dramatic because we expected a zombie, not the Brandon we know. Murray was game but God did he take a beating
Cotto/Margarito brought out the blood from the audience.
Lujan is an animal. Jones, IMO isn’t getting maximun leverage with his punches.
Or just lacks that little something extra.
Delvin was killing a gme but short Wolak, who could be an extra in Eastern Promises.
Best of all, Paulie Walnuts was at the fight!
"Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer"
---- Muhammed Ali
Hopefully on TV it served them better.
It absolutely did not. I felt terrible for Rios, Murray, Rodriguez and Wolak. The Mecca of Boxing was just The House of Cotto last night.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
Which isn’t the worst thing in the world, but I really expected the Garden to be rocking if the fights were good enough, and they were good enough.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
Me too
But it was so about Cotto that I had people next to me asking who Rios was…and when it would be over.
Shit…some of the ladies/dates actually fell asleep waiting. Seriously.
"Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer"
---- Muhammed Ali
This is what I told Scott yesterday during the live thread. Emmanuel Steward said yesterday that boxing is the number 1 sport in Puerto Rico. No, it isn’t. People love Puerto Rican boxers and they do watch their fights. But boxing as a sport is not as popular as basketball for instance. Many people will know what’s happening in the NBA, who are the stars, and in the national PR league as well. If you ask random people about fighters who are neither Puerto Rican nor have ever fought a PR fighter of note, most likely, they will not know who they are.
"He's still a very strong fighter, but I am way better than he is" - Miguel Cotto
Thanks for insight
I do find the average Jose on the streets of NYC will at least pretend to know, however.
"Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer"
---- Muhammed Ali
For me it was probably the Rodriguez/Wolak fight. All were very good fights but for some reason this one stood out for me.
by RRod806 on Dec 4, 2011 10:07 PM EST via iPhone app reply actions
I agree. I remember this fight the most, even recalling Murray and Margarito’s faces being busted up in their respective fights. At first I thought it was disappointing because it wasn’t FOTY-caliber like their first, but as I think of it now, it will still a great back and forth battle, and the finish was Delvin bombing Wolak but the Pole staying on his feet. I guess that’s what stuck out most for me.
I thought the best fight of the evening overall was Agbeko vs. Mares, but of the HBO fights, I thought Margarito vs. Cotto had the most drama and interest. Rios vs. Murray was good too, but I thought Murray had little to no chance of winning at a certain point, and the latter half of the fight, though bloody, was pretty dominant for Rios, whereas the latter part of the Cotto fight remained compelling, even if Cotto was winning all or nearly all of the rounds.
Boxing writer: "Iran, what are you going to do when you retire?"
Iran Barkley: "Rob your house"
I have to go with Rodriguez and Wolak, Delvin is a talented fighter who has had a shit ton of bad luck in his career and almost didn’t get this fight when Wolak started searching for a championship fight.
Although I’m a huge fan of Wolak, Rodriguez did everything he needed to do to beat Wolak and obviously worked hard to get the win. I remember making fun of him for shrinking down during the fight, but I can see what he was doing when I re-watch it.
I’ll call it fight of the night because Delvin Rodriguez had the performance of the night.
http://fistonchin.com http://brightlightssports.com
I voted for Rodriguez/Wolak. Rios/Murray was great too but the fact that Rios couldn’t make weight undermined it a bit for me. Both were great though. A bit surprised to see so many votes for Cotto/Margarito. I definitely enjoyed seeing Margarito get his just due and the crowd was great for the main event, but in terms of competitive action no way.
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