By: Christopher Roche
Last night at Madison Square Garden, Miguel Cotto put his undefeated record on the line in the biggest test of his career. When the dust settled, Cotto won a close unanimous decision over “Sugar” Shane Mosley.
Cotto opened up the bout with his usual relentless pressure, but the 36 year-old Mosley stood up to it very well. Mosley quickly found a home for his right hand, which was most effective over the top of Cotto’s guard. Cotto, who is known for his vicious body attack, actually found consistent success with his left jab, which was stiff and accurate.
Despite Mosley’s accuracy with the right hand, Cotto did not suffer any early trouble, as he did against Zab Judah. In fact, neither man was noticeably staggered in the bout, and the most drama came when Cotto suffered a cut inside of his mouth that distracted him in the middle rounds. The fight was very even, as both men answered each other, and Cotto failed to break Mosley’s will. By the 12th round, the two men underwent a role reversal, as Cotto bounced on his toes and Mosley stalked the 27 year-old champion.
In addition to the cut in Cotto’s mouth, he also had a cut near his eyebrow, and Mosley suffered a cut or tear on his earlobe. Both men were bloodied, but neither was clearly beaten. The cards reflected that, as they were 115-113 twice and 116-113 all for Cotto. Mosley dropped to 44-5, 37 KO’s and Cotto improved to 31-0, 25 KO’s. Cotto retained his WBA welterweight title.
Undercard
The televised undercard gave us some fast fireworks as Antonio Margarito crushed Golden Johnson in the first round. Margarito, who was coming off a loss to Paul Williams, proved he should still be feared, as he unloaded at will on the veteran Johnson. Johnson was counted out at 2:28 of round 1. The 29 year-old Margarito of Torrence, CA, moved to 35-5, 25 KO’s, and Johnson of Kileen, TX dropped to 25-8-3, 18 KO’s.
Rising prospect Victor Ortiz also got into the knockout act as he stopped Carlos Maussa with a short, grazing shot at 1:47 of round one. Ortiz, 20, improved to 20-1-1, 15 KO’s, while Maussa fell to 20-5, 18 KO’s.
Sandwiched between the two knockouts was an uneventful dancing lesson between Joel Casamayor and Jose Armando Santa Cruz. That bout, which was for the “linear” lightweight championship failed to deliver any fireworks, until the decision was announced. Santa Cruz pressured Casamayor for all 12 rounds, and he was rewarded with a split decision loss. Emmanuel Steward said that decisions like that one are what is ruining boxing, and Harold Lederman scored a wide decision for Santa Cruz.
Casamayor, who was more intent on holding than fighting, raised his record to 35-3-1, 21 KO’s. Santa Cruz fell to 25-3, 14 KO’s. Despite suffering a flash knockdown in round one, Casamayor was awarded scores of 113-114 twice, while Santa Cruz was awarded the fight by a score of 114-113.