Icey-Ice on the spot Cotto-Judah NYC recap....
June 11, 2007: Ice's Cotto-Judah recap:
So myself, Ross, Orlando, Sammy, Felix, Adam, Brian, Julian head to New York City this past Saturday for Cotto-Judah on a trip that almost finishes before it starts as I get not one, but two, flat tires within minutes of each other right in the middle of the Bronx. Orlando's tire changing skills save the day, though, and we get to Madison Square Garden in plenty of time. As soon as we hit 7th Ave. we see all of the pro-Cotto fans out front with flags and signs, getting ready to go inside and cheer their man on and the atmosphere outside tells me that inside is going to be turbo charged.
We run into a former sparring partner of mine, Jaidon Codrington, who is walking up towards MSG with hot welterweight prospect Andre Berto. Jaidon tells me he just got done earlier in the day with a press conference in preview for his fight in about two weeks with former world title contender Omar Sheika. We also run into heavyweight Michael Grant who stops to take a picture with our group.
I also have a chance meeting with a guy I often see on the www.boxingscene.com message board (a cool guy named "Soldier") who is standing out in front of the arena when one of the kids I am with hands his group a flyer promoting this very book you are reading now. He glances at the paper and I hear him say that he knows me from boxingscene. So I introduce myself to him and his friends and we talk boxing for a few minutes before I head inside. We take a photo together and I'm off to take my seat. Small world.
Once inside the arena we see that all of our group is sitting kind of high up towards the roof and of course we don't stand for that type of situation. We do what we normally do when we have to pay for tickets and that is make our way to the best available seats. So we move down as far as we can go and end up sitting a few seats away from usual friends/sometime adversaries (they were in the opposing corner when Mike-Mike fought Gary Stark earlier this year) Andre Rozier and Gary Stark Sr. We watch several prelim fights, including Julio Caesar Chavez Jr. versus Grover Wiley and Yuri Foreman versus Anthony Thompson, when my fellow New Englander's John "The Quiet Man" Ruiz and his attorney Tony Cardinale show up and sit in the seats directly behind me. As it becomes more and more clear that nobody is coming to come along and claim the seats that Sammy, Adam and I have seized I take great joy in letting the former heavyweight champion and his lawyer know that we paid just $50 dollars for the right to sit one row in front of them and their $550 dollar seats.
As usual the stars are out for the big fight. Mark Breland is sitting a few seats away from us as is former lightweight Brian Adams. Brian brings over two members of the New York Rangers hockey team to meet Johnny Ruiz and I end up meeting them, too. Fat Joe can be seen sitting very close to ringside, not far from Mario Lopez and Freddy Prinze Jr. I also see a guy who I am pretty sure (didn't get a chance to find out for sure, would have loved to have met him, though) is Taimak (aka Bruce LeRoy from "The Last Dragon"). Chuck Zito and at least two other members of the Hell's Angels (their leather jackets with "Hell's Angels" in big letters on the back gave them away) sit just a few seats away from Taimak and Fat Joe.
Also ran into my man Michael Moorer afterwards, looking good in a real sharp suit. He tells me I look like I am still in good shape (I agree with him) but he really looked like he was in fighting shape himself and while I didn't get a chance to ask him about it I wouldn't be surprised to hear of him fighting again in the near future.
I run into another friend of mine, a former two-time world champion, who was trying to hail a cab on 7th Avenue with no luck whatsoever. At one point we are standing there talking when this one cab driver stops and asks the former champ where he's going. Champ tells him. Cabbie drives away. The champ turns to me and says "Well, what the **** did he stop for then." Then he adds, for good measure, "I should have punched him in his ******* mouth."
Would have been a big story to tell had this particular guy went ahead and actually did it.
The first thing about Cotto-Judah that stands out me is that despite the fact that we are in New York City it is Miguel Cotto who gets the high majority of the crowd support. Every time they show images of him in the dressing room during the prelim fights he gets huge cheers from the crowd while Zab's appearances draw loud choruses of boos. I have been to some big fights in my day and I have to say that this fight held a crowd as electric as any I have ever seen up close. It is very clear that Miguel Cotto is the new Tito Trinidad for the people of Puerto Rico.
If you saw the fight then you know what I know and that is that Miguel Cotto was just too strong physically for Zab. Cotto still doesn't take the best shot in the world -Zab stung him several times- but his recovery time is impressive and his physical size and strength appears to be unusual for a welterweight, kind of reminiscent of Ike Quartey at that weight.
Zab definitely has his moments but after the fourth round was completed I definitely felt that Zab's chances of winning at that point were almost non existent. Cotto had that look about him, his body language told me that this was his night and his strength, his jab and especially his body punching were probably the best they have ever been in their career.
After the fight you can hear both fighters interviews with Larry Merchant over the loud speakers and Zab (as usual I might add was very gracious towards his opponent afterwards) and at one point Zab makes mention of the fact (yes, FACT) that the low blows severely affected him in the fight. Right afterwards he also tells how he thinks Miguel is a great fighter but the fans in attendance didn't get to hear that because they were too busy booing him for saying the low blows affected him. The majority of people in attendance seem to think he was making up an excuse and I even found out later that Mario Lopez (an actor, not a former boxer) was doing some broadcasting work and when Zab was on the canvas in obvious agony he made it seem to the listening audience that he was exaggerating his pain and suffering.
The fans (out of Puerto Rican pride as much as anything, I think) loudly dismissed the notion that Zab was really hurt by those two low blows that Cotto put on him but, come on now, you'd have to be loyally blind or just plain ignorant to think somehow that those punches weren't that bad. Mario Lopez and the other few thousand people in attendance that night who doubted Zab should be belted in their private parts by someone with the strength of a Miguel Cotto sometime soon so they can see the reality of that type of pain and suffering. Then they should come back and apologize to Zab. Idiots.
The fight ends in round 11 with Zab apparently totally spent and Cotto looking as though he was ready to go another ten rounds if need be. Zab had a lot taken out of him on this night and he deserves credit in my eyes for standing up and trying as long as he did. Big heart, for sure.
As for Cotto he instantly put himself in the running with this win for even big fights with either Shane Mosley, the Margarito-Williams winner or, if he's really fortunate, a showdown with Pretty Boy Floyd Mayweather.
![Rico Verhoeven [right] clouts Oleksandr Usyk in Egypt on May 23, 2026](https://photo.boxingscene.com/uploads/Oleksandr-Usyk-Rico-Verhoeven-20.webp)
