After a figurative toe-to-toe negotiating battle, junior middleweight titlist Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito have finally reached an agreement on the contract weight for their rematch: 153 pounds.
Although the division limit is 154 pounds, Cotto, who will be making his second title defense, insisted on a catchweight. He was obviously hoping to force the bigger Margarito to shed as much weight as possible before they meet Dec. 3 at Madison Square Garden in New York on pay-per-view. (Top Rank hasn't yet made a deal with HBO or Showtime to produce and distribute the fight.)
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AP Photo/ Ronda Churchill
Antonio Margarito is the naturally bigger fighter, but Miguel Cotto wanted to level the playing field in their Dec. 3 rematch.
According to Sergio Diaz, Margarito's co-manager, the camps had agreed to fight when Cotto insisted on making the bout at 150 pounds with the stipulation of a weight check on the day of the fight, for which the fighters could not exceed 160 pounds.
"When we met with [Top Rank's] Bob Arum to negotiate the fight, no catchweight was spoken about," Diaz told ESPN.com. "So Bob was as surprised as we were that Cotto was asking for 150 pounds. Then Bob spoke with Cotto and got him to 152. Then it was presented to us and we went back and forth and we finally settled at 153. They were also asking for a next-day weigh-in where Antonio couldn't weigh more than 160. That was another issue we were going back and forth about. So we threw out 153 pounds with no second weigh-in."
Diaz said the negotiations got to the point where there was serious concern that the fight wouldn't be finalized because of the differences over the weight.
"There was no reason for a catchweight," Diaz said. "This is a junior middleweight title fight, but that is what Cotto wanted and Bob was worried it wouldn't get done because of the issue. We weren't going to accept ultimatums, but we wanted the fight and said, 'Let's work on this.' We weren't going to do 150 or 152 or a next-day weigh-in. Enough with the demands. Bob finally came back at 153 and no next-day weigh-in. I spoke to Tony and he said, 'Let's do it.' We have the paperwork and everything is all done. He will be putting his signature on it soon."
Top Rank's Todd duBoef said he and Arum had no opinion about the weight situation, as it was up to the fighters to be comfortable with the agreement.
"We were acting as a conduit to make the fight. The fighters had the issues about the weight, and we acted as the liaison between their camps," duBoef said. "I'm glad everybody agreed, but it was not easy. We encouraged dialogue between the camps because it was something that was out of our control. We could provide the financial terms for both camps for the fight, but we were not the guys getting on the scale and training."
Cotto (36-2, 29 KOs) and Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs) first met in 2008 and waged a memorable welterweight title bout in Las Vegas. Cotto took a big early lead, but Margarito came on late and stopped him in the 11th round of a bloody slugfest. The win was later tainted, however, when Margarito was caught trying to enter the ring for his next fight wearing loaded hand wraps. The incident led to speculation that Margarito might also have worn illegal wraps against Cotto.
Cotto is coming off a 12th-round knockout of former titlist Ricardo Mayorga in March. Margarito hasn't fought since November, when he was pounded in a lopsided decision loss to Manny Pacquiao for a vacant junior middleweight belt. In the fight, Margarito suffered a broken orbital bone and wound up with a cataract that required eye surgery and
Although the division limit is 154 pounds, Cotto, who will be making his second title defense, insisted on a catchweight. He was obviously hoping to force the bigger Margarito to shed as much weight as possible before they meet Dec. 3 at Madison Square Garden in New York on pay-per-view. (Top Rank hasn't yet made a deal with HBO or Showtime to produce and distribute the fight.)
[+] Enlarge
AP Photo/ Ronda Churchill
Antonio Margarito is the naturally bigger fighter, but Miguel Cotto wanted to level the playing field in their Dec. 3 rematch.
According to Sergio Diaz, Margarito's co-manager, the camps had agreed to fight when Cotto insisted on making the bout at 150 pounds with the stipulation of a weight check on the day of the fight, for which the fighters could not exceed 160 pounds.
"When we met with [Top Rank's] Bob Arum to negotiate the fight, no catchweight was spoken about," Diaz told ESPN.com. "So Bob was as surprised as we were that Cotto was asking for 150 pounds. Then Bob spoke with Cotto and got him to 152. Then it was presented to us and we went back and forth and we finally settled at 153. They were also asking for a next-day weigh-in where Antonio couldn't weigh more than 160. That was another issue we were going back and forth about. So we threw out 153 pounds with no second weigh-in."
Diaz said the negotiations got to the point where there was serious concern that the fight wouldn't be finalized because of the differences over the weight.
"There was no reason for a catchweight," Diaz said. "This is a junior middleweight title fight, but that is what Cotto wanted and Bob was worried it wouldn't get done because of the issue. We weren't going to accept ultimatums, but we wanted the fight and said, 'Let's work on this.' We weren't going to do 150 or 152 or a next-day weigh-in. Enough with the demands. Bob finally came back at 153 and no next-day weigh-in. I spoke to Tony and he said, 'Let's do it.' We have the paperwork and everything is all done. He will be putting his signature on it soon."
Top Rank's Todd duBoef said he and Arum had no opinion about the weight situation, as it was up to the fighters to be comfortable with the agreement.
"We were acting as a conduit to make the fight. The fighters had the issues about the weight, and we acted as the liaison between their camps," duBoef said. "I'm glad everybody agreed, but it was not easy. We encouraged dialogue between the camps because it was something that was out of our control. We could provide the financial terms for both camps for the fight, but we were not the guys getting on the scale and training."
Cotto (36-2, 29 KOs) and Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs) first met in 2008 and waged a memorable welterweight title bout in Las Vegas. Cotto took a big early lead, but Margarito came on late and stopped him in the 11th round of a bloody slugfest. The win was later tainted, however, when Margarito was caught trying to enter the ring for his next fight wearing loaded hand wraps. The incident led to speculation that Margarito might also have worn illegal wraps against Cotto.
Cotto is coming off a 12th-round knockout of former titlist Ricardo Mayorga in March. Margarito hasn't fought since November, when he was pounded in a lopsided decision loss to Manny Pacquiao for a vacant junior middleweight belt. In the fight, Margarito suffered a broken orbital bone and wound up with a cataract that required eye surgery and
