Cotto To Ponder His Future Over The Coming Weeks

By Keith Idec

NEW YORK — Austin Trout assured anyone who would listen that Miguel Cotto and his handlers made a serious matchmaking mistake by picking him as Cotto’s opponent tonight. Wow, was Trout right. The left-handed Trout out-boxed and even out-slugged the rugged Cotto during their 12-round fight and won a unanimous decision to retain his WBA super welterweight championship in an action-packed main event at Madison Square Garden. The scores were 117-111, 117-111, 119-109.

The unbeaten Trout, of Las Cruces, N.M., improved to 26-0 and established himself as one of the top pound-for-pound boxers in the sport by beating Cotto in convincing fashion. Cotto, 32, lost his second straight fight and fell to 37-4. The former three-division champion also lost for the first time in eight fights at the Garden, the immensely popular Puerto Rican fighter’s home away from home since he first fought there in June 2005.

“He’s a southpaw, so it was a very difficult fight,” Cotto said. “But I feel I did my job.
“I’m satisfied with the job I did tonight. I’ll go back to Puerto Rico and think. He came at me with both hands. It was a great fight. We fought until the end.”