Rey Colon reports that the December 3 rematch between WBA junior middleweight beltholder Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito isn't totally finalized yet, as there are still some details that need to be finalized. The fight is going to happen, but an official weight for the fight is still up in the air, and a 150-pound catchweight could happen.
Margarito manager Francisco Espinoza says that the fight is definitely on, and that Margarito (38-7, 27 KO) has been medically cleared by doctors, so he's at least as recovered from his eye injury suffered against Manny Pacquiao last year as he's going to get. But we've seen fighters with pretty bad injuries be medically cleared in the past, including Israel Vazquez before his fourth fight with Rafael Marquez, when he clearly had some serious issues with his own eye injury. So this doesn't necessarily mean that Margarito is in phenomenal shape with the injury, just that he's in good enough shape to be cleared by his doctors.
As for the weight, look, I know some people get up in arms about catchweights, but I really couldn't care less. If they both agree to fight at 150 pounds, then fine. Cotto is still really a welterweight, so the weight going down from 154 wouldn't bother him, and could be a way for he and his team to try and drain Margarito. Margarito fought at 150 last year when he faced Pacquiao, and it didn't appear to bother him, but he's definitely a bigger man than Cotto, one of the main factors at play in their first fight.
If Margarito were to have issues making 150 -- not that it's certain he would -- then that's in Cotto's favor, and really, Cotto is the man pulling the strings for this fight between the two of them. Yes, it's good money for them both, but Margarito's options for interesting fights are pretty limited. Cotto could fight a lot of different opponents, but for Margarito, where he's at in his career, it's basically this fight or bust. That's no shot at Margarito, either, it's just that he's older, he hasn't won a big fight since 2008 (the first Cotto fight), and his reputation isn't exactly sparkling anymore. There's only so much out there for him, and the obvious biggest fight for him is this one.