Margarito-Cotto would be compelling matchup

0 Comments | Philadelphia Daily News, April, 2008 | by BERNARD FERNANDEZ fernanb@phillynews.com

ATLANTIC CITY - Given the utter devastation that was wrought in the two welterweight championship co-features, Saturday's HBO-televised doubleheader should have been sanctioned by FEMA, not the IBF and WBA.

Antonio Margarito's nickname is the "Tijuana Tornado," and in the first featured bout of the evening you would have thought IBF titlist Kermit Cintron was a rickety fence in his path. By the time the big wind had blown through, Cintron was down and counted out by referee Earl Brown in the sixth round after an elapsed time of 1 minute, 57 seconds.

"He hit me with a left uppercut. I couldn't breathe," said Cintron (29-2, 27 KOs), who lost in more or less the same manner, except in one fewer round, to the physically stronger Margarito (36-5, 26 KOs) in 2005.

But...