It was an historic night at Yankee Stadium and Miguel Cotto joined the ranks of Derek Jeter and CC Sabathia as new stars at the new ballpark as Cotto stopped Yuri Foreman forty-two seconds into round nine to win the WBA Super Welterweight championship.
It looked like it would be an easy night for Cotto as he landed jabs and left hooks that moved the bigger Foreman with each connection. Foreman was on his customary horse but moved in and out and started to land some decent combinations to get himself back into the fight.
Cotto started to take control in round’s five and six but in round seven is when the fight turned in round seven when Foreman slipped on the ring and buckled his right knee. Foreman limped around the ring but courageously carried on and Cotto turned up the heat and landed some blistering combinations and with some wicked uppercuts being the keys blows on the face of Foreman which showed effects with blood from the nose and right eye.
In round eight the fight turned bizarre when a towel came in from Foreman’s corner. With the fight seemingly over, referee Arthur Mercante Jr. threw the towel out and cleared the ring and ordered the fight to continue. With Chaos momentarily in the ring, order was restored and the fight went on with Foreman valiantly trying to exchange and occasionally landed some shots on the heavy handed Cotto. At the start of round nine, Cotto landed a left hook to the body and Foreman crumpled to the canvas in pain from his leg and Mercante stopped the fight immediately.
Cotto, 153 1/2 lbs of Cagua, PR is now 35-2 with twenty-eight knockouts. Foreman, 154 lbs of Brooklyn loses for the first time and is 28-1.
In a battle of undefeated Jr. Middleweight, Vanes Martirosyan scored a ten round unanimous decision over Joe Greene.
Martirosyan scored well early as he worked from a distance against the southpaw Greene. Martirosyan trapped Greene against the ropes several times but could not conjure up more then one punch of a time. Greene landed well from distance with a winging over handleft but his work rate was not enough to win most if the rounds. Martirosyan capped the fight by dropping Greene with a winging left in the final seconds of the bout.
Martirosyan, 153 lbs of Glendale, CA won by scores of 98-91, 96-93 and 96-93 to remain undefeated at 28-0. Greene, 151 1/2 lbs of New York is now 22-1.
Rising junior middleweight contender Pawel “Raging Bull” Wolak of Mt. Arlington, NJ via of Poland grinded out a competitive ten round unanimous decision over New York based Irishman James Moore in the final untelevised bout of the evening. Wolak and Moore fought the duration of the bout at a phone booth pace, with Moore landing effective shots to the head in spurts, while Wolak relied on a consistent workrate, even though he landed few telling blows.
Moore briefly buzzed Wolak in the seventh with a short hook, but Wolak’s exceptional conditioning and determination ultimately proved to be too much for Moore, as the once promising prospect ran out of gas during the final three rounds.
Scores were 97-93 twice and 96-94.
Wolak, who may land a meaningful bout with the victory, improves to 27-1 (17 KO’s). Moore drops to 17-3 (10) following the setback. –Matt Yanofsky
In an exciting lightweight match up, Juan Lucio, 132 1/4lbs, took on Juan Gonzalez, 132 1/2lbs. Gonzalez, a native of Bayamon, PR, was hoping to entertain his fellow Puerto Ricans in attendance. The fight started out with Lucio pressing the action and hoping to get inside the reach of his much taller opponent. Gonzalez showcased some smart ring intelligence as he was able to maintain the distance with his jab. As the fight progressed, Lucio was able to close the distance and land some hard blows of his own, and even taking a round in the progress. Still, over the course of the four round bout, it was Gonzalez that landed the more telling blows and came away with a unanimous 39-37, 39-37, and 40-36 decision.
Gonzalez’ record improves to 8-0 with 7 knockouts, while Lucio’s record falls to 4-1-1 with 2 knockouts. This was the first time Gonzalez went the distance in his young career.
Batterbaugh pushed the action and landed the more serious blows as the southpaw Rainone had very few answers for Batterbaugh’s offense.
Scores were 60-54, 60-54 and 59-55 for Batterbaught, 145 1/2 lbs of Denver and is now 6-3-1. Rainone, 147 lbs of Long Island, NY is now 12-4.
Exciting featherweight prospect Jorge “King” Diaz upped his record to 14-0 (9 KO’s) following an impressive sixth round stoppage over rugged Korean Jae Sung Lee. Diaz decked Lee with a right hand in the opening round and landed a number of precisely timed blows almost at will over the next four rounds. Diaz, who moved his head while boxing better than in prior bouts, also was successful in close quarters for both the body and head. Lee, who was game throughout the bout, got rocked by a right hand in the final round and a follow up barrage ended his night at 1:54.
“I always said I wanted to have a short and profitable career, but I have since changed (my mind)”, Diaz said about his new, more patient style. “I want to be more conservative with myself and my body so hopefully I can have a long career.”
Lee, who is now based out of NY, drops to 10-3-1 (2) with the defeat.–Matt Yanofsky
Abner Cotto of Caguas, PR won a six round unanimous decision over Midland, TX’ Edgar Portillo. Cotto controlled the majority of the bout, but Portillo was game and never stopped fighting. Scores were 59-55 twice and 58-56.
Cotto, 133.25 lbs, improves to 8-0 (4 KO’s). Portillo, 134, slides to 6-5-1 (1 KO)
In the opening bout, Christian Martinez dropped Jonathan Cuba three times en route to a stoppage in the fourth and final scheduled round of their Super Lightweight bout.
Martinez dominated the action and then landed a booming left that sent Cuba down as the third round bell sounded. Martinez came out and rocked Cuba with a right in the fourth that drove him into the ropes and a follow up right dropped Cuba. Cuba barely regained his feet only to eat a barrage of punches that sent him down again a\and that prompted referee Sparkle Lee to stop the bout at 1:18 of round four.
Martinez, 141 lbs of New York is now 4-0 with four knockouts. Cuba, 141 1/4 lbs of New York is now 2-2.
Photo by Chris Farina/Top Rank