Antonio Margarito

Antonio Margarito
Data
Birth Name	Antonio Margarito Montiel
Weight class	Welterweight
nationality	Mexican
birthday	March 18, 1978
place of birth	Torrance , USA
style	Left delivery
size	1.80 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	50
Victories	41
Knockout victories	27
Defeats	8th
draw	0
No value	1

Antonio Margarito Montiel (born March 18, 1978 in Torrance , USA ) is a Mexican professional boxer.

Professional career

Margarito played 21 amateur fights, of which he won 18. Because he came from a poor background and was dependent on the money from the fights, he became a professional boxer in 1994 at the age of 15. He lost three of his first twelve fights in this way, still relatively inexperienced, but then remained undefeated for eight years.

His first title fight was against Daniel Santos in 2001 . This fight was not counted, however, because both collided with their heads in the first round and could not continue fighting. After Santos rose a weight class and therefore had to resign his title, Margarito fought in his next fight for the now vacant WBO title against Antonio Díaz. He was able to win this fight with a knockout in the tenth round.

He then defended the WBO title three times before climbing into the ring again against Daniel Santos, this time for the light middleweight title. In this fight there was another accidental headbutt; but since ten rounds had already been fought this time, the fight was terminated prematurely and the score sheets were evaluated. Margarito lost on points and continued to fight in the welterweight division. He was able to defend his title four times, including against the then undefeated Kermit Cintrón . In July 2007 he finally lost the WBO title by a unanimous decision on points to the American Paul Williams .

On April 12, 2008 Margarito won a world welterweight title for the second time after he was able to defeat the IBF title holder , Kermit Cintrón, by a knockout in the sixth round. In July 2008 he was stripped of the IBF title because he preferred a more lucrative and more attractive for the media duel against WBA world champion Miguel Cotto instead of defending the IBF title. Margarito was supposed to play against Cotto the year before, but then completed the mandatory defense against Paul Williams.

The up to then unbeaten professional Puerto Rican Cotto was after the temporary resignation of Floyd Mayweather Jr. as number one in the welterweight division and thus went into the fight on July 26, 2008 in Las Vegas as the favorite . Margarito finally got two knockdowns against Cotto in the eleventh round, whereupon his opponent's corner threw in the towel. Margarito was able to celebrate his third title win in welterweight.

On January 24, 2009, he got into the ring against Shane Mosley . Margarito lost this fight by a technical knockout in the ninth round. Before this fight, an unauthorized insert was found in Margarito's bandages, so that his hands had to be rewrapped. On February 10, 2009, the California State Athletic Commission revoked Margarito and his trainer from boxing for one year for using an unauthorized insert. After the one-year blocking period had expired, Margarito got back into the ring after a 16-month break. He fought his first fight after his suspension in Mexico against his compatriot Roberto Garcia. Margarito won this fight by a unanimous point decision.

On November 13, 2010 Margarito got the chance to compete for the vacant WBC super welterweight title (light middleweight) against the Filipino Manny Pacquiao at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington (Texas) . Although Margarito weighed twenty pounds more and was eleven centimeters taller than his opponent on the evening of the fight, he was largely without a chance, so that the fight was about to be abandoned several times and Margarito finally lost after twelve rounds unanimously on points. After this defeat, he had to undergo surgery on his right eye because of a ruptured eye socket.

On December 3, 2011, there was a rematch against Miguel Cotto in Madison Square Garden. Cotto started the fight well and hit Margarito more often on the eye that had been injured from the Pacquiao fight, so that it was completely swollen up by round seven. The ring doctor examined Margarito's eye at the beginning of the ninth round, but initially let the fight continue. In the tenth round the fight was stopped and Cotto was declared the winner by a technical knockout. Six months after that defeat, Margarito ended his career in June 2012.

In March 2016, he returned to the ring and defeated Jorge Paez junior (39-7) unanimously.

Web links

• Antonio Margarito in the BoxRec database
• Official website

predecessor	Office	successor
Daniel Santos	Welterweight Boxing Champion ( WBO ) March 16, 2002 - July 14, 2007	Paul Williams
Kermit Cintron	Welterweight Boxing Champion ( IBF ) April 12, 2008 - July 2008	vacant Joshua Clottey
Miguel Cotto	Welterweight Boxing Champion ( WBA ) July 26, 2008 - January 24, 2009	Shane Mosley