Miguel Cotto rattled his promoter Bob Arum today with the delcaraation that he will not fight Antonio Margarito if their scheduled December 3 bout cannot happen in New York City.
Cotto told assembled media during a conference call today that should Margarito fail to obtain medical clearance to fight, he will not go along with Arum’s alternative plan to move the fight to another state. Cotto’s words caused Arum to abruptly end the call without taking any further questions.
“I sign [sic] to fight this match in New York. I didn’t sign this fight for somewhere else,” Cotto explained. “I’m going to fight in New York. I’m not going to fight in another place, just in New York. I’m not going to present myself in any other state or any other commission but the New York State Athletic Commission… If the people of the New York State Athletic Commission said Margarito is not able to fight because of his eyes, everybody has to respect that and any commission in the U.S. has to respect that.”
Antonio Margarito’s medical status has undergone last-minute scurtiny from the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) over the condition of his surgically-repaired right eye. Margarito has not fought since last November after suffering a broken right orbital bone at the hands of Manny Pacquiao. Despite two surgeries and medical records from Top Rank-hired physicians, the NYSAC will hold a final hearing this afternoon where findings from their own doctor will be reviewed.
At press time, Bob Arum could not be reached for further comment.
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All is not well in the land of Top Rank. It would be a complete disaster should this fight get canceled. The fans will rightfully be furious — NYC fans would be able to to get ticket refunds, but what about everyone coming in from out of town who’ve booked hotels, car rentals etc.? Both Top Rank and the NYSAC would share equal blame for letting this happen. Yes, the NYSAC should brought this up way before getting to the final stretch of the promotion. But Top Rank should have done their due diligence following up once the weeks passed without Margarito getting medical clearance.
What intrigues me the most about this situation is the extent of Margarito’s eye damage. I can’t fathom the NYSAC risking the collective venom of fans and the loss of millions of dollars in revenue unless they felt there was an extremely high risk of Margarito getting permanent damage. While I want this fight to happen badly, I don’t want to see it at the expense of a fighter becoming blind. We’ll see how this saga concludes in a few hours.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 