Cotto vows to fight Margarito only in NY

Miguel Cotto said on Tuesday that he will defend his World Boxing Association super welterweight crown against Antonio Margarito only in New York as plans for the bout awaited an licensing decision. Puerto Rico's Cotto, 36-2 with 29 knockouts, is scheduled to fight Mexican star Margarito, 38-7 with 27 knockouts, on December 3 at Madison Square Garden in a rematch of a controversial 2008 slugfest won by Margarito. But the New York State Athletic Commission has delayed approving Margarito's license to fight in the wake of right eye injuries that required surgical repairs sustained in a loss to Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao last November. Margarito flew from Mexico to New York on Monday to have his surgically repaired right eye examined by a doctor appointed by the commission and a hearing on the results is scheduled later Tuesday. But Cotto says that if New York will not stage the fight, he will not fight Margarito. "If New York says he is not able because of his eyes, any commission outside of New York has to respect that," Cotto said. "I'm not going to fight anywhere but New York. "I signed this fight for New York. I didn't sign this fight for somewhere else. I want to fight in New York. I'm not going to present myself to any other state commission than New York. "It's not a question of giving an advantage to anyone. It's a question of doing the right thing and that's fighting in New York." Margarito, who has not fought since losing to Pacquiao, underwent surgery to remove a cataract and install an artificial lens in his eye. Cotto said he will not shy away from going after Margarito's right eye. "I'm going to use any kind of advantage I feel I have over him, everything I have in the ring," Cotto said. "I'm going to fight like always, with my heart and my soul. I'm going to do my work." Cotto said the uncertainty over where the fight might be held has not been a distraction. "I just focus on my training camp. The other things around the fight are not about us," Cotto said. "We can fight anywhere and we have our health. We just focus on our work." Helping Cotto's concentration is the conviction that Margarito had plaster in his handwraps when he inflicted the Puerto Rican hero's first defeat, stopping him in the 11th round in 2008. In Margarito's next fight, plaster was found in his hand wraps before he faced Shane Mosley and after a re-wrapping, Margarito lost to Mosley. Cotto cites similar red coloring on the Mexican's gloves after his fight and the Mosley fight as evidence to convince him that Margarito used plaster against him, which makes him a "criminal" as far as Cotto is concerned. "I feel the same wraps he used in my fight," Cotto said. "People who doesn't believe that, who thinks he didn't use it, they just don't want to believe. Margarito received a 16-month suspension but that seems insufficient for Cotto. "Playing with the health of somebody else, attempting to kill -- he used plaster on his wraps, he used a weapon on me -- he has to be treated like a criminal," Cotto said. "In sports we use only our skills and conditioning." Cotto has waited three years for a chance to avenge the defeat. "I carry my loss like a man for the last three years," Cotto said. "I didn't ask for the people to erase the defeat. That's not the issue. He has to accept what he used and what he did in 2008."