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 Thirty-year-old Miguel Cotto (36-2, 29 KOs) rematches Antonio Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs) on December 3 2011 according to what boxing promoter Bob Arum told boxingscene.com.
Cotto is the current WBA light middleweight (154 lbs) world champion. He won his title from Yuri Foreman (28-2, 8 KOs) June 2010. He made his first title defense against Ricardo Mayorga (29-8, 23 KOs) this past March. Margarito defeated Cotto in their previous match by brutal TKO stoppage in round eleven. Margarito's following match against Shane Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KOs) led to a revelation of plaster being illegally used in his gloves. Mosley's trainer spotted the strange substance and had it removed before beginning the fight. Mosley demolished Margarito, stopping Margarito in round nine to hand Margarito his first and only knockout loss so far. Speculation quickly formed as to whether Margarito won fairly against Cotto. Margarito was suspended from the ring for a year. Then he returned to face a tune-up and met Manny Pacquiao (53-3-2, 38 KOs) in the ring last November. His right orbital bone was injured in the fight as a result of the tremendous beating Pacquiao poured onto Margarito's face. Though Cotto has also sustained a heavy beating from Pacquiao, he has recovered and flourished since moving up from welterweight (147 lbs) to light middleweight (154 lbs). Margarito is said to be recovering well, with his doctors recently giving their blessing to start training. Arum had this to say about whether Margarito's eye has healed: "...Miguel Cotto against Antonio Margarito, and it will probably be on Dec 3. Antonio Margarito's eye is 100 percent."
Some are critical of the pairing, noting Margarito's past use of plaster. Arum had this to say to his critics:
"I couldn't care less about the criticism I'm going to hear about the fight, because I know the Hispanic fans, whether they be Puerto Rican or Mexican will buy the fight. There will be enough fans to make a really good number and we're looking to do the fight in New York City...it will be in Madison Square Garden where Cotto has been so popular. So, I don't see the downside to that fight."
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. to Return September 24 in Texas Arum also has plans to place former possible Cotto opponent Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (43-0-1, 30 KOs) against a choice of three different opponents for his first defense of his WBC middleweight (160 lbs) world title. The choices are undefeated English European champion Darren Barker (23-0, 14 KOs), Italian fan-favorite Peter Manfredo Jr. (37-6, 20 KOs) and Mexican veteran Marco Antonio Rubio (50-5-1, 44 KOs). According to ESPN, this is what Arum had to say about the fight: "We talked to Freddie and went over everything and the date that works for us is Sept. 24, and that's what we've asked HBO for..."
Chavez Jr's title match against Sebastian Zbik (30-1, 10 KOs) drew 1.5 million viewers. That's the biggest television draw for HBO's "Boxing After Dark" series since Paulie Malignaggi (29-4, 6 KOs) defeated Lovemore N'dou (48-12-2, 31 KOs) in 2007. The fight is believed to take place likely in either Houston or San Antonio, Texas. Both areas are highly populated with Hispanics, specifically the Mexican audience Arum and Chavez Jr seek to capture. Arum has said recently that Cotto and Chavez Jr won't meet in the ring until next year so the 25-year-old Chavez can get more development time before facing Cotto. I suspect both men will prevail in their respective tough matches and then face each other possibly next fall.
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