Tweet
By Sammy Rozenberg - The Mecca of Boxing, New York's Madison Square Garden, was completely sold out with a ruckus crowd of Puerto Rican fans that saw Miguel Cotto (30-0, 25KOs) successfully defend his WBA welterweight title by knocking out Zab Judah (38-5, 25KOs) in the eleventh round. For the third year in a row, Cotto headlines at Madison Square Garden and wins on the even of New York's Puerto Rican Day parade. Top Rank reported that an estimated record crowd of 20,600 came out to see Cotto.
It was advertised as the toughest opponent of Cotto's career and it surpassed expectations. As many insiders expected, Judah came out strong in the first four rounds by rocking Cotto with power punches in the first three rounds as both men exchanged hard shots. Judah took some bad low blows in the first and third round, falling down to the mat in pain. Cotto was penalized a point for the low blow in the third. In the fourth, Judah was bleeding from the outside of his right eye and Cotto was bleeding heavy from his mouth.
Cotto began to take over the fight by the fifth round as Judah began to bleed from his nose. A clash of heads in the sixth round saw a cut open up above the right eye. The signature body punishment of Cotto began to break down Judah in the next few rounds as the former champion was on the run. In the ninth, Judah was broken down physically and mentally. His right eye was practically swollen shut and he took a voluntary knee to give himself some time to recover from the damage he was receiving.
In the eleventh, within moments a hard right that was followed by a combination sent Judah down. He barely got to his feet on very shaky legs. Cotto immediately went for the kill as the referee jumped in to save Judah from further punishment. At the time of the stoppage, all three judges had Cotto up 97-91.
The welterweight division is by far the richest division in the entire sport of boxing. Cotto has enough choices to last him for the next two years. The agreement prior to the event had the winner of Cotto-Judah taking on the winner of Antonio Margarito's upcoming defense of the WBO welterweight title against undefeated Paul Williams, which takes place on July 14.
The agreement was more tailored towards Margarito, who is under contract with Top Rank, and the original June 9 opponent for Cotto. Margarito passed on the Cotto bout and decided to take a fight with Williams due to the bigger payday and the WBO had threatened to strip him of his crown if he bypassed his mandatory, Williams. [details]
It was advertised as the toughest opponent of Cotto's career and it surpassed expectations. As many insiders expected, Judah came out strong in the first four rounds by rocking Cotto with power punches in the first three rounds as both men exchanged hard shots. Judah took some bad low blows in the first and third round, falling down to the mat in pain. Cotto was penalized a point for the low blow in the third. In the fourth, Judah was bleeding from the outside of his right eye and Cotto was bleeding heavy from his mouth.
Cotto began to take over the fight by the fifth round as Judah began to bleed from his nose. A clash of heads in the sixth round saw a cut open up above the right eye. The signature body punishment of Cotto began to break down Judah in the next few rounds as the former champion was on the run. In the ninth, Judah was broken down physically and mentally. His right eye was practically swollen shut and he took a voluntary knee to give himself some time to recover from the damage he was receiving.
In the eleventh, within moments a hard right that was followed by a combination sent Judah down. He barely got to his feet on very shaky legs. Cotto immediately went for the kill as the referee jumped in to save Judah from further punishment. At the time of the stoppage, all three judges had Cotto up 97-91.
The welterweight division is by far the richest division in the entire sport of boxing. Cotto has enough choices to last him for the next two years. The agreement prior to the event had the winner of Cotto-Judah taking on the winner of Antonio Margarito's upcoming defense of the WBO welterweight title against undefeated Paul Williams, which takes place on July 14.
The agreement was more tailored towards Margarito, who is under contract with Top Rank, and the original June 9 opponent for Cotto. Margarito passed on the Cotto bout and decided to take a fight with Williams due to the bigger payday and the WBO had threatened to strip him of his crown if he bypassed his mandatory, Williams. [details]