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Pound for Pound king Manny Pacquiao was one of the near 18,000 fans in attendance to watch Miguel Cotto retain his WBO welterweight title with a close split-decision win over Joshua Clottey at New York's Madison Square Garden. Top Rank's Bob Arum, who promotes both fighters, would like to match Cotto and Pacquiao in November.
At Madison Square Garden in New York, WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (34-1, 27KOs) won a very tough twelve round decision over Joshua Clottey (35-3, 20KOs) in a very bloody fight. The scores were 116-111 for Cotto, 114-113 for Clottey and 115-112 for Cotto.
At Madison Square Garden in New York City, WBO junior flyweight champion Ivan Calderon (32-0-1, 6 KOs) and Rodel Mayol (25-3-1, 19 KOs) battled to six round techincal draw on the Cotto-Clottey undercard. The scores were 58-56 Calderon, 58-56 Mayol and 57-57 for the draw.
Former super bantamweight champion Rafael Marquez was involved in a car accident in Cuernavaca, Mexico. No serious injuries were suffered, only some bruising but he was banged up enough to miss the BWAA's annual dinner in New York, where he and rival Israel Vazquez were being presented with their award for "Fight of The Year."
WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto has selected vertan cutman Joe Chavez to work his corner on Saturday night against Joshua Clottey. Chavez replces Miguel Diaz, who was let go by Cotto in the aftermath of the Evengelista Cotto fallout. Chavez was suggested to Team Cotto by his promoters, Top Rank. Chavez has worked with Oscar De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao and many others.
Top Rank's Bob Arum, promoter of Manny Pacquiao, has told Floyd Mayweather Jr. to drop his high demand for a clash with Filipino fighter. He said as long as Mayweather keeps his position of receiving more money than Pacquiao, the fight will never happen. Mayweather is looking to get at least a 60-40 split. Arum in several past interviews has said that Pacquiao deserves more money and he won't agree to 60-40 or even 50-50 agreement. He feels Pacquiao is deserving of the bigger split.
WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (33-1, 27 KOs) is predicting a big win on Saturday night at New York's Madison Square Garden, where a thousands of Puerto Rican fans will cheer him on as he defends his title against former champion Joshua Clottey (35-2, 20 KOs) of Ghana. Cotto says that he is ready for Clottey, but wonders if the Ghanaian fighter is ready for him.
Heavyweight Paul Butlin (12-9, 3KOs) will take on cruiserweight Johnathon Banks (20-1, 14KOs) on the undercard to Wladimir Klitschko-Ruslan Chagaev at the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Butlin had a lot of overseas press from his last fight, when UK hevayweight prospect Derek Chisora bit him on the ear during their 5/22 contest. Chrisora won an eight round decision but he was suspended for a few months in the aftermath.
According to The Times, Junior Witter vs. Devon Alexander, scheduled to battle for the vacant WBC junior welterweight title, is being pushed back. The paper reports that promoter Don King has pulled the fight from the July 11 Showtime card in Florida, that features Vic Darchinyan vs. Joseph Agbeko in the main event. There are some who advised BoxingScene.com that Witter-Alexander was never actually on that card to begin with.
It appears the IBF has ordered a rematch between IBF flyweight champion Nonito Donaire and South African fighter Moruti Mthalane. Donaire stopped Mthalane in six rounds last November after a cut suffered by Mthalane was deemed too serious to allow him to continue.