In case you haven’t heard, the WBA welterweight championship will be fought for in what is already being dubbed as the ‘’fight of the year'’.

Mexican boxer Antonio Margarito will face Miguel Cotto this Saturday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada for the WBA welterweight championship in a match that will definitely be waaay better than another match between Manny Pacquiao and some Mexican handpicked by the third world.

As of press time, Miguel Cotto is coming in this fight as the favorite to beat the living daylights out of Antonio Margarito. However, Margarito is no pushover and if Cotto is not careful, the underdog just might catch him with a vicious left hook right on the jaw.

Antonio Margarito has a record of 36 wins and 5 losses, 27 of those wins came by way of knock-out. Margarito, a former WBO welterweight champion, will fight in his first WBA-sanctioned bout against Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas.

Margarito decided to challenge Cotto after a successful defense of his IBF title on April 12 in New Jersey against Kermit Cintron, knocking him out in the sixth round. But instead of fighting his next scheduled rival, Joshua Clottey, whom he has beaten before, Margarito decided to vacate his IBF title and face Cotto for the WBA welterweight championship instead for a bigger bout.

Antonio Margarito hails from Tijuana Mexico and at five-feet, eleven inches tall, is considered to be too tall for a welterweight. He’s a brawler with sneaky power in both hands, not to mention a damn good chin, that’s probably why many regard him as a pure warrior, a ‘’fighter'’.

Margarito likes attacking the body, keeping up the kind of pressure that takes opponents out of their game plan before luring them to his game, fisticuffs and brawls. Considering the way he is trained, with a high focus on endurance, Margarito’s main asset should be his stamina, that factor could be the big difference in his bout with Miguel Cotto.

Margarito is naturally a slow starter who often boxes for the first few rounds to figure out his opponent. He is tough and has never been knocked out, even though he has lost five fights since turning pro in 1994.

Margarito has tremendous stamina and gets stronger as the fight grows longer. He doesn’t have the best defense in the game but if you believe that a good offense is the best defense, then Margarito should have some by smothering opponents with constant waves of aggression in the late rounds of fights.

Antonio Margarito won the WBO welterweight title in 2002 and defended it three times. After winning it again in 2005, he has successfully defended it four times.

In 2006, Margarito showed just how good he is in endurance battles by setting a Compubox all-time record of 1675 total punches thrown in a twelve-round bout against Joshua Clottey. Between 1996 and 2004, Margarito went undefeated before finally losing via technical decision after the fight was stopped on cuts in his only match at 154 pounds.

Margarito is recognized by most boxing insiders as the 2nd best welterweight in the world. Who’s the best? Cotto.

Can Antonio Margarito beat Miguel Cotto to win the WBA welterweight title? Bodog sportsbook has the odds.

Miguel Cotto 1.38

Antonio Margarito 3.05

Want more odds? Visit Bodog sportsbook for the best boxing betting odds there is available today.

Miguel Cotto Antonio Margarito