By Mark Vester
On the undercard to Miguel Cotto-Shane Mosley at New York's Madison Square Garden, Joel Casamayor (35-3-1, 21 KOs) won a very controversial split-decision over Jose Armando Santa Cruz (25-3, 14 KOs). The scores were 114-113 for Casamayor, 114-113 for Santa Cruz and 114-113 for Casamayor. Ringside observers were calling it the worst decision of the year.
Santa Cruz caught Casamayor with a short counter that sent him down in the first round. Casamayor was coming off a thirteen-month layoff and it showed. He was very rusty, could not get off with his punches and underestimated his former sparring partner, Santa Cruz. He was holding often enough that it was a miracle that referee Steve Smoger did not deduct any points. In the seventh round, Santa Cruz switched to southpaw and began to pepper Casamayor with hard lefts. Santa Cruz controlled the fight as the fight went on to the final bell.
Prior to this bout, Casamayor was regarded as the true lightweight champion. Now, the title of "true lightweight champion" has to awarded to undefeated WBA/WBO/IBF lightweight champion Juan Diaz.
