Cotto-Margarito II available online
Saturday night’s HBO Pay Per View-televised rematch between RING No. 1-rated WBA junior middleweight beltholder Miguel Cotto and ex-titleholder Antonio Margarito, including three bouts of its undercard, will also be available online from New York’s Madison Square Garden.
The card, available for $54.95, can be viewed on the following websites’ live stream: www.toprank.tv, www.DishNetwork.com and www.sports.yahoo.com. Select cable and satellite TV systems will also be offering the pay-per-view live stream. Viewers should check with their local providers.
The streams will feature interactive options, including a four-shot, dynamic player that will allow viewers to select a viewing angle. The live online pay-per-view is exclusive to U.S. customers.
Cotto (36-2, 29 knockouts) was an unbeaten WBA welterweight titleholder before being battered, beaten bloody and dethroned by an 11th-round knockout loss to Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs) in July of 2008.
The Cotto-Margarito undercard boasts RING No. 1-rated lightweight and WBA titleholder Brandon Rios (28-0-1, 21 KOs) as well as two popular East Coast-area fighters in unbeaten RING No. 8-rated Philadelphia welterweight Mike Jones (25-0, 19 KOs) and RING No. 10-rated New Jersey junior middleweight Pawel Wolak (19-1-1, 19 KOs).
Also to appear is Notre Dame graduate and Chicago-based ligthheavyweight prospect Mike Lee (7-0, 4 KOs) against Allen Medina (9-19-1, 1 KO).
Rios is in pursuit of his 11th win in a row against THE RING’s No. 8-rated Johnny Murray (31-1, 18 KOs). Jones will be in against Argentina’s Sebastian Lujan (38-5-2, 24 KOs) for the No. 1 spot in the IBF’s ratings, with the winner being in line to meet IBF No. 2-rated Randall Bailey (42-7, 36 KOs) for the organization’s belt that was recently vacated by Andre Berto (28-1, 22 KOs).
In another rematch on the Cotto-Margarito II, Wolak is taking his unbeaten streak of 8-0-1, including five knockouts against Dominican-born Delvin Rodriguez (25-5-3, 14 KOs).
Wolak and Rodriguez battled to a majority draw in an exciting Fight of the Year candidate bout in July during which Wolak fought the entire second half of the fight while peering through severely cut and swollen eyes, the right side of his face marred by a softball-sized hematoma.
Cotto is immensly popular at Madison Square Garden, where he is 6-0 as part of his overall 8-0 record with four knockouts in New York.
Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]