By Scoop Malinowski

The demeanor of Antonio Margarito throughout the whole process of negotiation and the press tour for the upcoming Superfight on July 26 with Miguel Cotto has been simple to interpret. Clearly, Margarito is extremely confident. He smiles and speaks and carries himself without arrogance or cockiness but what seems to be a knowing inner assurance - that he will absolutely prevail in the long-awaited first mega-fight of his career.

The long-avoided Margarito (and later down the scroll his manager Sergio Diaz) shared thoughts on this potentially epic battle which has the boxing world abuzz. Even Bert Sugar is caught up in the hype as he last week called Margarito vs. Cotto “Fight of the decade if not the century.”

Boxinginsider: Can you lose this fight to Miguel Cotto?

Margarito: “No. No. I trust my preparation and I know I can make a victory on that night.”

Boxinginsider: Is Cotto going to be the toughest fight of your career?

Margarito: “I’ll be honest with you. I don’t believe Cotto is the best fighter I’ve faced. I think I’ve faced bigger, tougher opponents. With also undefeated records as well as Cotto.”

Boxinginsider: What is the key to winning against Cotto?

Margarito: “That you will see in the ring on the night of the fight.”

Boxinginsider: What are we going to see on July 26?

Margarito: “The new WBA world champion.”

Boxinginsider: Sergio, did you derive any extra confidence from the fact it took Cotto an extra month to sign the contract?

Sergio Diaz: “Ahh, you know what, Cotto never said he was not gonna take this fight. But from what I heard from sources out in Puerto Rico, they’re worried. Team Cotto’s worried. And I know a lot of people in Puerto Rico are worried. And again, from what I’ve been told, he’s thinking, This is a tough fight. This is a fight I can possibly lose. If it’s gonna be that way I gotta get paid for it.”

Boxinginsider: That sums up Cotto’s angle going into this fight. What is Antonio’s angle?

Sergio Diaz: “Antonio’s angle is - Win. Gotta win this fight. The opportunity is here. You’ve been following Antonio’s career. It’s taken a while. And he knows he has to take advantage of this opportunity. If not, maybe another will come to fight for a title, but will it be a major fight? No. And we don’t think so. So this is the time for Antonio to take advantage of.”

Boxinginsider: How did the press tour go? Did you learn anything new about your opponent?

Sergio Diaz: “Cotto’s team, they’re very professional. We’ve known them for a while. It’s a fight, they’re athletes, it’s just like any athlete, any team playing against each other. They want to win. Right now they’re shaking hands and they’re smiling but they know on July 26 all that is thrown out the window. They both want to win and they both’ve got to do, what they have to do win that fight. Right now, we’ve been together, we’re in the same hotel, different flights, but it’s been good, it’s been good. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. Our team, Team Margarito, we’ve never been the type of team that we hate their team and we don’t speak to them, and we give them this. We’ve always been a friendly team, we’ve always spoke to him. The day of the fight, what happens happens. But after the fight we’ll be talking. I don’t know if it’s something different but that’s how we are. That’s the way our team is.”