SOAP OPERA IN THE SQUARED RING
By Rich Mazon
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 04 Dec 2011
Admit it or not, we like soap operas. Even if you are a guy who is a hardcore boxing fan or a UFC aficionado, once and maybe a couple of times in your life you have watched, seen and most likely anticipated a daytime or a nighttime soap. It is a staple on Philippine and Spanish televisions. It is what you see on daytime TV here in the States. And why not, they make for a good, albeit exaggerated mimicry of life. The main ingredient of a soap series never changes. It is seasoned with romance, intrigue and scandal. It is spiced up by personal and domestic issues that include betrayal, revenge and redemption. It builds up to a climactic event that keeps us addicted to one. It appeals to our entertainment needs.
Sports they say mimic life too. And boxing is as personal as it gets. If there is anything close to a soap opera in sports, it is boxing. Real soap opera ingredients are blended into the making, promoting and selling of a fight, especially the high profile ones. And I am talking of genuine, albeit exaggerated issues too. No, this is not manufactured drama like pro wrestling or the WWE. Although the WWE do make great story lines, but boxing tries to get it as real as it can get it to be.
The fight tonight between Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito at The Madison Square Garden is as it real as it can get. Promoters try to hype up a fight between their combatants to sell it, especially the big such as this one. This one does not need it. It is in bred in these two fighters. Top Rank who promotes them did not need a reason to come up with as a genuine, believable story line for this mega fight. We all know the story. We all know what happened in their first match and the circumstances surrounding it. Here is Cotto who is an undefeated, popular, unbeatable at that time fighter, meeting his match in the squared ring. Only to find out months after that his opponent might have employed dirty and illegal tactics to eke out that victory. This one dealing with the issue of the hand wraps. This suspicion has been the acceptable truth in Cotto's mind and most that follow boxing. One allegation that the other foe vehemently denies even with raised eyebrows and suspicious looks on those that hear it.
That suspicion clearly paves its way to this rematch tonight. The question going to tonight's fight is... Is that victory by Margarito over Cotto three years ago in Las Vegas a tainted one? Did Margarito pull off the biggest win of his career in bad faith? Did he use the same plaster of Paris found in his hands that the Mosley camp discovered in his locker room in that victory over Cotto? All of these are questions but not for the majority who follows this sport, and certainly not Miguel Cotto. Margarito can deny it all he wants but Cotto isn't buying any of his explanations. Cotto knows a "criminal act" was done that night. And he was the victim no less.
All of this is what brings this two real life rivals tonight in where it started first and where it is assumed it will end?the squared ring. No less than in Miguel Cotto's home away from home. The city that has adopted him as its son will welcome him tonight in the most important fight of his career. His revenge will happen in the city that his countrymen calls its second home, Nueva York. It is happening in his home turf, in nothing less than the Mecca of Boxing. The Garden which he sold out twice in his boxing career including tonight will host his revenge against his in and out of the ring rival. This will happen in front of family, in front of friends, of countrymen, of faces that he knew and recognized. If this was a judicial court out to try Margarito for his crimes, this will be a biased jury.
And what about the perceived villain of this story, Antonio Margarito? It is a role that is tailor fit to his looks and image. A role he has embraced really well in this fight. His laughter, his dark glasses, his gestures and his talk embodies a true anti-hero. Intentionally or not, he plays that role naturally after the hand wrap issue. Not even a questionable eye injury can change that perception. Not even if he is at serious risk of getting hurt with that. He will never get any sympathy from it. Not from Cotto, nor his family, not from Cotto's fans, not from fans of the sport that will never believe whatever explanations he or his camp makes regarding that plaster of Paris that was caught in his hands. But this is his story for this fight. A victory here will definitely put those doubts to rest. If he beats Cotto the same way he beat him in 2008 in this fight where all the eyes of the world will be in his two fists when it gets wrapped, then that will diminish the doubt level on this issue largely. If he puts in the same beating in Las Vegas three years tonight here in Cotto country, won't that make you changed his mind about him. Maybe, he is just a naturally relentless, heavy handed fighter. Maybe.
In a few hours, we will know where this story leads us to. Is this the end of the show? Or is this just another cliff hanger on what has become boxing's true soap opera. Is this the finale or is it just like a soap opera, a teaser of what lies ahead. Cotto does not think so. Margarito does not think so. They both want to end it the only way they know how. That is to fight in that ring, nothing less.
So just admit it my macho friends and readers of the sport of boxing. We like soap operas ourselves. And nothing less than this rematch is as dramatic as it can be for our sport. Soap operas can be addicting, definitely. You just can't take your eyes of it once you get hooked to it. Cotto's revenge and Margarito's redemption is a script that you cannot make up. Come on, it's okay to watch this soap. Don't be ashamed of it. This is as good as it gets in boxing, drama wise. Come on, let us watch tonight's soap opera in New York and we'll talk about it like men tomorrow.
You can reach Rich Mazon at rrmaze24@aol.com for reactions to this piece.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rich Mazon .
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