By Lem Satterfield

NEW YORK - Last Saturday night, Arthur Mercante Jr. was the referee for the first professional main event at Yankee Stadium in over 33-years, officiating a ninth-round, technical knockout victory by challenger Miguel Cotto (35-2, 28 knockouts) that dethroned WBA junior middleweight (154 pounds) champion Yuri Foreman (28-1, eight KOs).

The bout ended in controversy. Foreman had already injured his right leg twice in the seventh round, going down in pain on both occasions after twisting and apparently re-injuring a leg on which he wore a knee brace.

In the eighth round, a limping Foreman watched a white towel was thrown into the ring from the direction of his own corner. But Mercante overruled it, believing that the towel came "From a source other than Foreman's trainer," Joe Grier, he said.

"That's what I realized later on -- that it was Joe Grier. But what got me was that they were in the heat of battle at that time. They were exchanging. Then, all of a sudden, I look up, and I see a towel," said Mercante.

"You know what? I'm a referee who doesn't like to disqualify or take points," said Mercante. "I don't like to see a guy lose a championship by disqualification. I threw the towel out, but everybody had already started to jump into the ring."

At that point, Mercante said that his first thought was to clear the ring.

"I said, 'Hold it, time out, everybody out,'" said Mercante. "I said, 'Hey, this fight's not over.'"

Mercante then approached Foreman and asked him if he wanted to continue.

"I said to Yuri, 'Hey, what's going on?'" said Mercante. "Yuri was upset that his corner did that."

Foreman, later, appeared to support Mercante's assertion.

"Arthur Mercante let me try to work it out. I'm a world champion, or, now, a former world champion. I would have never quit. I did not want the fight to be stopped," said Foreman.

"I was there the entire fight. The brace is for an old injury," said Foreman. "I was making side-to-side movements, however, and it just gave out. I felt a sharp pain and that's why I went down."

Lem Satterfield is the boxing editor at AOL FanHouse and the news editor at BoxingScene.com. Read more by Lem Satterfield by going to AOL FanHouse.