Cotto-Margarito second bout set for New York

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The promoter of Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito Wednesday selected Madison Square Garden as the site for the Dec. 3 bout between the adversaries who previously engaged in a 2008 classic still stained by Margarito later being busted for nearly using plaster inserts in his next bout.

‘There’s a lot of storylines, draw your own conclusions as to what they are,’ said Top Rank’s Carl Moretti, who helped finalize the deal with Top Rank President Todd duBoef.

Cotto (36-2, 29 KOs) will defend his World Boxing Assn. super-welterweight belt in the pay-per-view bout, more than three years removed from the first Margarito clash in Las Vegas.

Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs) won the first fight via 11th-round TKO while trailing on two of the three scorecards, leaving a badly beaten Cotto bleeding not just on the face but from the ears.

Since then, Cotto sustained a 12th-round TKO loss to Manny Pacquiao but rallied to claim his 154-pound belt and defended it in March with a 12th-round TKO of Ricardo Mayorga.

Margarito was beaten down in a November unanimous-decision loss to Pacquiao, and was told his career was in danger before emerging from successful cataract eye surgery.

Top Rank also considered Las Vegas as a site for the rematch, but Pacquiao fights there Nov. 14, and the promoters liked the idea of placing another compelling Puerto Rico-Mexico (Cotto is from Puerto Rico, Margarito is from Mexico) match-up at a venue where Cotto draws well just as the holiday season begins.

Tickets will range from $50 to $600, Moretti said.

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