Vengeance and defiance. Anger and tragedy. This is story HBO is building as the story of Margarito-Cotto 2. Margarito triumphed over Cotto in a blood ladened slug fest. A triumph which became villification for Margarito on the night he faced future hall of famer Sugar Shane Mosely. Mosley’s trainer discovered Margarito using illegal hand wraps- effectively known as bricks. With the news of this discovery, Cotto gained all of the motivation he needed to avenge the first loss of his career.

The road has been long since 2008. Cotto has suffered a losses is in the ring and outside the ring. He’s lost to Pacquiao and has lost his father due to respiratory failure. Inside the ring, Cotto has bounced back to form with his latest triumph over boxing bad boy Ricardo Mayorga.

Margarito has endured a whirlwind of problems outside of the ring. After finally finding a state that would license him to fight professionally, he faced Pacquiao who after 12 rounds of constant beating, fractured Antonio’s orbital bone. He needed surgery to repair the damage.

The question now is, how is Margarito’s eye? He contends his eye is actually better than what it was before. We’ll soon see on fight night.

Cotto has a new trainer. He is no longer employing the services of Emmanuel Steward and reports his training is going well. Margarito in Temoaya, Mexico. Why? it’s 10,000 feet above sea level.

Besides the loss of Cotto’s father and parting ways with Emmanuel, all of the familiar faces are in place. The primary question that remains is how long can Cotto stand pressure and how much damage can Margarito’s right can take on fight night?