ESPN Article: Cotto claims WBO welterweight title

NEW YORK -- Miguel Cotto won the WBO welterweight champion, stopping Michael Jennings at 2:36 of the fifth round Saturday night. Cotto dominated at Madison Garden, dropping Jennings twice in the fourth round with merciless body shots and once in the fifth before the fight was stopped. A slow starter, Cotto (33-1, 27 KOs) patiently stalked the lightly regarded and overmatched Jennings of England, cutting off the ring and landing a steady barrage of head and body shots. "I started to go to the body and the head," Cotto said. "Then I let my hands go. I hit him with some good shots." It was Cotto's first fight since his now questionable loss to Antonio Margarito last summer. Margarito had his boxing license revoked earlier this month for at least one year by the California State Athletic Commission for the illegal wraps discovered on the former welterweight champion's hands before his loss to Sugar Shane Mosley in January. While Cotto was a heavy favorite, it was crucial he delivered a dominating performance, erasing any doubts that the Margarito beating would have lingering effects. Cotto made the powerful statement he needed to as a boisterous crowd of 11,120 cheered on the much-loved Puerto Rican. "This was a very important fight psychologically," Cotto's trainer and uncle Evangelista Cotto said. "Miguel had to get back into the ring. He looked very decisive." While Jennings was game, it was only a matter of time before the superior Cotto tracked him down and then slowed him with those nasty, trademark body shots. Once the glaring Cotto found his mark, the fight was all but over, with Cotto connecting on more than 50 percent of his power punches. Jennings (34-2, 16 KOs) couldn't survive Cotto's maelstrom of punches that have demolished plenty of talented fighters. "He's a great fighter," Jennings said. "The hardest puncher I ever faced. You think you're out of his range but he strikes and connects." Cotto said he accomplished his goal in the fight that really didn't produce much action until the fourth round. He studied Jennings and then dropped him repeatedly. "Tonight was pretty good," Cotto said. "It was a little slow in the beginning." And he seemed to be past the Margarito defeat. "The loss made me stronger and more focused and a better boxer," Cotto said.