Margarito KOs Cintron; Cotto TKOs Gomez

In the Welterweight doubleheader, KO was the story of the night. Antonio Margarito took it right to Kermit Cintron in their rematch. Cintron landed some hard right hands to the head of Margarito, but he never slowed Margarito down. Margarito who has a come forward style of fighting just continued to come forward. He had a high volume of punches working for him and really worked the body of Cintron. Cintron did well when he was able to keep Margarito on the outside but Margarito did not stay on the outside too long. It was obvious if Margarito wanted to win the fight he had to get on the inside of Cintron. In round 2, Margarito was throwing some vicious that snapped Cintron's head back on at least 3 occasions. In round 5, it was becoming obvious that Cintron was wearing down. He seemed disoriented and really kind of out of it in my opinion. I honestly think the fight fight weighed in Cintron's mind more than he will ever admit. In the 6th round, Margarito ripped a hard left hook to the liver/upper rib section of Cintron and Cintron did not even come close to beating the 10 count. With this win over Cintron, Margarito became the IBF Welterweight Champion. Now he is poised to fight WBA Welterweight Champion Miguel Cotto this July.

In the main event, Miguel Cotto looked like the perfect boxer/puncher. Never have I seen Cotto look so confident damn near cocky in a fight. From the opening bell it appeared he knew Gomez did not have a chance to hurt him and he fought Gomez that way. Cotto's jab was established immediately and he was ripping Gomez to the body. Gomez is a hard fighter but nowhere near the level of Miguel Cotto. At the end of the 1st round, Cotto wobbled Gomez with a hard shot to the body. In round 2, Gomez went down from a shot to the body from Cotto. After beating Gomez to the punch the whole 3rd round, Cotto dropped Gomez hard at the end of the round. Gomez got up because he could not be saved by the bell. In round 4, Cotto attacked and somewhat let up off of Gomez. Gomez's right eye was closing and Cotto looked like he did not want to brutally hurt Gomez. He toyed with Gomez the whole round but never went for the kill like he usually does. In round 5, Gomez's father told him to throw every punch he had. When you are in a fight with a guy like Cotto, that is easier said than done. Cotto controlled all of round 5 and dropped Gomez with a jab as he was moving backwards. At that point it was more than obvious that Gomez was done, but he kept fighting hard. At the end of round 5, the ring doctor stopped the fight due to Gomez was taking too much punishment. With the loss, Alfonso Gomez will go back to the drawing board to see what is next for himself. Honestly he has the heart of a champion, but not the power or skill. For Cotto, he has a date with Antonio Margarito in July. Cotto's face looked like he was never in a fight so he can just take a week or two off and prepare to fight Margarito without any issue.

Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito appear to be headed to a July 26 showdown. Bob Arum has to work on the details including the fact that another one of his fighters, Joshua Clottey, is the mandatory for the IBF Welterweight Title that Margarito just won. Clottey lost a close decision to Margarito in 2006 and is also looking to avenge that loss as well as fight for his mandatory title shot.