By Jake Donovan

Jose Miguel Cotto found his way back into the win column after stopping late sub Christopher Henry in four rounds Friday evening at Coliseo Cosme Beitia Salamo in Catano, Puerto Rico.

Cotto worked behind a two-fisted attack, serving as the aggressor throughout their brief affair. Henry did his best to press the action, but never bothered to make use of his natural advantages in the ring. The welterweight journeyman had six inches in reach and nearly seven inches in height on the hometown fighter, but allowed Cotto to force an inside fight, which was ultimately his undoing.

After allowing his presence to be felt in the opening round, Cotto dialed up the attack in the second. A straight right hand floored Henry for the bout’s lone knockdown, though the 36-year old Barbadian braved the onslaught and elected to fight on.

Things never got better for Henry, although it could be argued that he was never given a fair chance to go out on his shield.

Cotto pounded his opponent in the third, and scored with deadly accuracy in the fourth, including a sequence where he landed six flush head shots as well as separate combinations to the body. Henry managed a couple of punches in between – both of them left hooks, neither thrown with much conviction.

It wasn’t enough to convince the referee that he any longer possessed the wherewithal to properly defend himself. The bout was immediately halted, with Henry neither out on his feet nor even in serious trouble.

To the third man’s credit, Henry turned his back and walked away as if he wasn’t very interested in continuing, although his post-fight salute to the crowd – climbing the turnbuckle and raising his fist, as if he wasn’t done – suggested otherwise.

The official time was 1:19 of the fourth round.

With the win, Cotto advances to 32-2-1 (24KO). The win is his first of 2010, as his only other bout of the year was a spirited ninth-round stoppage loss at the hands of Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. He remains undefeated in his native Puerto Rico, in fact with both career losses coming in Las Vegas.

Henry loses for the sixth time in his past seven fights – including five stoppage losses over that stretch - as he creeps closer towards .500 status. His record falls to 24-21 (18KO) in defeat. He was brought in as a late replacement for Oscar Leon, who was scratched from the card just two days ago after failing to properly secure a visa to travel from Colombia to Puerto Rico.

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Featherweight prospect Jesus Rojas rode a second round knockdown to a surprisingly close split decision win over Reynaldo Lopez.

Rojas, a stablemate of the Cotto brothers, dropped Lopez with a right hand in the second round and used his superior skill set to avoid the threat of an upset. Lopez never stopped trying, attempting a late rally in hopes of erasing an early deficit, but Rojas would have none of it as he continued to beat the Colombian to the punch until the final bell.

Scores were 59-54 (twice) for Rojas and 57-56 for Lopez.

The win is Rojas’ third straight as he improves to 16-1 (12KO). The lone hiccup in his career came nearly two years ago in an upset loss to featherweight spoiler Jose Angel Beranza, on the same night (and card) that Oscar de la Hoya was violently sent into retirement by Manny Pacquiao. 

Lopez continues downward after having seemingly turned around his career two years ago when he scored a major upset knockout win over then unbeaten Mike Oliver in a nationally televised bout. The Colombian falls to 31-9-3 (22KO), with just one win in his last six bouts.

Undefeated bantamweight prospect Angel Fret (8-0, 7KO) continued his winning ways with a third round stoppage over Sigfredo Medina (3-3, 2KO). Official time was 0:35 of the third round.

The show was presented by Promociones Miguel Cotto and Golden Boy Promotions and aired live on Telefutura.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.