Miguel Cotto (L) listens to Emanuel Steward at media day...

Miguel Cotto (L) listens to Emanuel Steward at media day for Cotto-Ricardo Mayorga fight. (Feb. 22, 2010) Credit: Tom Farina / Top Rank

The grudge rematch between WBA Super light middleweight champion Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito still is on -- if only very tentatively -- for Dec. 3 in the main arena at Madison Square Garden.

The New York State Athletic Commission met on Friday and decided to table a decision on whether to grant Margarito a boxing license until after a commission-appointed doctor can have a "hands-on" examination of the challenger, who underwent cataract surgery in the spring and had an artificial lens implanted in his right eye.

According to Los Angeles-based attorney Daniel Petrocelli, who represents Bob Arum's Top Rank Promotions, Margarito will be asked to break camp in the mountains near Mexico City to come to New York for the exam over the weekend. "There's no time, date or place set for the exam," Petrocelli said. "Where do we go when we get to JFK?"

Asked if he expects the fight to go forward as scheduled, Petrocelli said, "If it's an honest exam, yes."

The process to reach that agreement was a contentious one that began at a hearing at NYSAC headquarters in Manhattan. The commission turned down a Top Rank request for a "caucus" between doctors from both sides in place of an exam. But commission chairman Melvina Lathan appeared to agree to hold the examination at a "midpoint" between Mexico City and New York. She even made sure Top Rank agreed to provide first-class airfare for the physician.

That changed Friday evening after further review by NYSAC attorneys. A commission spokesman, in a statement sent to Newsday, said: "NYSAC did not commit to conducting the examination at a halfway point, rather it said it would take the request under advisement. Shortly after today's hearing, the Commission's counsel informed Mr. Margarito's representatives that the exam would need to take place in New York due to legal considerations regarding the practice of medicine. Further, the physician must be available to testify at a follow-up hearing in New York City following the examination."

Lathan expressed her anger that Top Rank did not complete all the paperwork for the license application until the day of the original hearing on Oct. 31. Petrocelli countered that the commission could have requested an examination much earlier but failed to do so.

Accepting the disruption to Margarito's training schedule, Petrocelli said, "They're telling us it's not negotiable. They're the king. They're in charge. We just hope it's fair and square. We've got nothing to hide."

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