good talk

As I mentioned my favorite sport is boxing and this past July 26 I went to the MGM here in Las Vegas to see Antonio Margarito of Mexico challenge undefeated Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico for Cotto's WBA Welterweight Championship, 147 pounds. The place was packed with Mexicans and Puerto Ricans with a lot waving flags as Cotto was considered to be close to the best boxer in the world, there was a lot of build-up but without animosity as neither had spoken ill of the other. Only maybe 10% of the spectators were white. Cotto is an excellent boxer who also hits with power and was a 3-1 favorite while Margarito bulls in and showers his opponent with hard punches while disdaining defense. A lot of the Mexican boxers are willing to die in the ring and are known for this. After 6 rounds Cotto was ahead making Margarito miss as many as 5 punches in a row with both fighters still able to land frequent punches. I had bet Cotto to win in the last 3 rounds and was looking forward to this but it was Cotto who was weakening due to Margarito's harder punches. During the course of the fight Margarito was hit flush in the face I'm sure over a hundred times but without any seeming effect. The ceaseless barrage of Margarito's attack brought the bout to an end in the 11th round as it was stopped after Cotto went down twice, blood flying out of his mouth, his face covered with blood. The fight was stopped at the right time, I'd be the last one to want to see a game lad get hurt but you have to give a great champion the chance to see if he can somehow pull it out. Hopefully it's not a career-ender, I don't think it is. At the beginning of each round Cotto would cross himself and then kiss his right glove, I thought this was cute, ha, ha. This was regarded as one of the best boxing matches of the past 10 years, I've seen 69 pro boxing cards in Las Vegas and the promoters really lucked out on this one because the undercard was weak (I saw a good Don King card around Christmas years ago entitled "Seasons Beatings"). Neither Cotto or Margarito has any tattoos to show how tough they are. Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito are both valiant and skilled fighters and it would be my honor to share a carrot juice with either or both.