The Only Fight That Matters

We are now just hours away from the most eagerly anticipated boxing match since Mayweather-De La Hoya between Mexico's Antonio Margarito and the biggest emerging star in boxing, Puerto Rico's Miguel Cotto. Everything about this match-up leads me to believe that we're about to witness one of the most memorable battles of this era in boxing. Cotto is the undefeated king of the welterweights, but he's never been in with a guy quite like the Tijuana Tornado. Margarito is a classic Mexican fighter, displaying a tenacious attacking spirit to go with a chin. Continue after the jump to watch HBO's essential Countdown to Cotto-Margarito in its entirety as well as links to some great previews.

Large has been delivering gold all week over at No Mas, but Wednesday's post was probably the highlight. That bastard is actually in Vegas tonight, where he'll be providing ringside updates for The Sporting Blog. I haven't been this jealous of another guy since Pavel Bure and Sergei Federov were plowing a young Anna Kournikova. William Dettloff has written two great articles on the history and importance of the Puerto Rico-Mexico rivalry and it's impact on tonight's fight, one for The Ring and one for the WWL. Hell, ESPN even talked about the fight for a few seconds on SportsCenter tonight. They sent Dan Rafael out there with some guy I've never seen for a few seconds of thrilling discussion. I wonder what it would take to get SportsCenter on location in Vegas with Brian Kenny Anchoring. Probably something like Kimbo Slice vs. Batman. Imagine the crossover marketability! Over at the Ring Report Tim Starks has the event covered from nearly every conceivable angle to get you ready. It's not like there's anything on television today. I'll be back tonight to offer up my thoughts, as well as the requisite predictions for the fight and the outcome. Update: MDS is live blogging the fight at Fanhouse. I thought about doing that, but it would have involved taking my eyes off of the television.