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Cotto
dec. Mosley; Margarito destroys Johnson in 1 Round; Casamayor escapes with
dec. over Santa-Cruz
By: Ralph Rimpell@MSG
(NOV 12) On Saturday night
at New York’s Madison Square Garden arena, Miguel Cotto (31-0, 25 KOs) took
another step towards why he should be considered one of the best fighters
“Pound for Pound” in the world of boxing today. The last time the public saw
Cotto, he defeated, by knockout, former two time and undisputed world
welterweight champion Zab Judah. In facing Sugar Shane Mosley (44-5, 37
KOs), he stepped up his level of competition. He also defeats a former three
division champion and WBC interim champion, who is a lock for the boxing
hall of fame.
In round one Mosley boxed
well and picked his shot nicely. Because Mosley was the quicker of the two,
Cotto countered well and did his best to time Mosley and was able to connect
against Mosley with good accuracy. In round two both fighter were able to
land good shots. There was also toe to toe action with Mosley getting the
better of the exchanges. In round three Cotto looked to brawl with Mosley
and get on the inside. Mosley stood his ground and then drew Cotto towards
the center of the ring to box. In rounds four through six, both fighters
engaged in toe to toe action with Cotto getting the better of the exchanges.
In round seven Motto outworks Mosley by landing the more effective punches.
In rounds eight through ten Mosley uses his jab and foot work to outbox
Cotto instead of brawling, much to the dismay of the fans. In rounds eleven
through twelve Cotto was able to play possum a bit in an effort to draw
Mosley in which he did with good success landing the more accurate and
effective punches. The official scores were 115-113 twice and 116-113 for
Cotto. Hotboxingnews/WBAN also scored the fight 115-113 for Cotto.
At the post fight press
conference Cotto praised Mosley as being a great fighter who gave him a good
fight. Regarding his future, Mosley said he would not make a decision until
he reviewed the fight to assess his performance. Promoter Bob Arum said he
would now look to match up Cotto against former WBO welterweight champion
Antonio Margarito who expressed interest in wanting to fight Cotto. Cotto
stated he would not fight Margarito now because he had the opportunity to
fight Cotto and he passed on the opportunity. According to Cotto, Margarito
is going to have to wait.
In another welterweight fight, former WBO welterweight champion Antonio
Margarito (35-5, 25 KO’s) destroyed Golden Johnson (25-9-3, 18 KOs) in 2:28
of round one. At the post fight press conference Margarito stated that he
was back and had learned from the loss against Paul Williams. He stated he
felt he had nothing to gain from fighting either Cintron or Williams again
who have publicly expressed wanting to fight him but have not taken the
necessary steps to make the fights happen. His first choice is to fight
Cotto.
In an exciting world lightweight championship fight Joel Casamayor (35-3-1,
21 KOs) was out worked by Jose A. Santa-Cruz (25-3, 14 KOs) over twelve
rounds. Cruz scored a first round knockdown which was mostly a push. For the
remainder of the bout he pressed the action and landed the more effective
punches while Casamayor did his best to counter and clinch to offset Cruz.
The fans expressed their disagreement with boos for the split dec. victory
scores for Casmayor 114-113 twice and 114-113 for Santa-Cruz. Hotboxingnews/WBAN
scored the fight 115-113 for Santa Cruz.
Contact Ralph Rimpell:
RLuvsboxing@aol.com |
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