Two nations will collide tonight as Margarito meets Cotto for title

LAS VEGAS (AP) — When Antonio Margarito climbs into the ring tonight, Julio Cesar Chavez and Salvador Sanchez will be with him in the minds of Mexico.

When Miguel Cotto joins Margarito at center stage in the MGM Grand Garden, the WBA welterweight champion will be accompanied in spirit by Wilfredo Gomez, Sixto Escobar and the rest of Puerto Rico’s past greats.

Neither fighter plans to disappoint his nation or his mythical entourage in the next episode of boxing’s best international rivalry.

Cotto and Margarito are fighting for more than a 147-pound belt in the summer’s most anticipated bout. Two boxing-mad nations are sending out their top representatives when Cotto, the unbeaten Puerto Rican champion, takes on Margarito, the latest star in Mexico’s long line of beautiful brawlers.

“If you put one Puerto Rican boxer in front of a Mexican boxer, you’re going to have a good fight,” Cotto said. “It’s great to be a part of this rivalry, to have the opportunity to have another chapter of this rivalry, to put this fight at the same level as others from the past.”

Both men are well-versed in the histories of the past champions who planted the first seeds of boxing interest in their young minds. They’ve spent the last decade fighting to become their nation’s standard-bearers, with Cotto gradually surpassing Felix Trinidad in the last two years while Margarito impatiently waited for the fights that would put him in the spotlight.

In their joint debut as Vegas headliners, Cotto and Margarito both say they intend to fight in the all-action, straight-ahead styles that almost guarantee an eventful bout. Cotto (32-0, 26 KOs) has resourcefully demolished every opponent in his path on the way to world titles in two divisions, while Margarito’s success is based on constantly coming forward, never allowing his opponent to rest.