Fit Antonio Margarito for an eye patch now. Avenging his loss from their first fight, Miguel Cotto’s nine-round pummeling of Margarito resulted in a TKO to retain his WBA Super Welterweight title. Cotto (37-2-0) tactically took out his opponent in one-sided dominance with all three judges scoring in his favor 89-82. As Margarito’s eye swelled up the ref let him proceed in the 9th but the in-fight doctors stopped the bout in the 10th as the Mexican’s camp begged for one more round. Absorbing punches unfazed during the fight, Cotto exposed Margarito’s worn down right side, the same one damaged by Manny Pacquiao a year ago.

It’s appropriate that the Cotto revenge show took place in New York’s Madison Square Garden. If it were at any other typical boxing venue on the West Coast, Team Margarito would be in full force but the Pro-Cotto New York crowd waved their Puerto Rican flags high, cheering for their native son’s retribution. Unlike the previous marquee match of Pacquiao v Marquez III, this match was high-action and, by looking at Margario’s face, there was a definitive winner and loser. Let’s not take away the fact Margarito was fine outside of the right-eye and could have went the distance otherwise. But you could tell Cotto’s camp had a mission at hand exposing that right side and with consistent jabs and hooks with Cotto’s left hand, a strategy that proved successful.

We know these guys hate each other. “He means nothing to me,” said Cotto in the post-fight interview. After finding out Margarito was found with illegal handwraps against Shane Mosely in the match after their first fight, Cotto sought revenge. And to definitely prove his loss in their first match was a fluke, Cotto flung successive strikes to his opponent’s right side, shutting both his eye as well as the door on this rivalry.