In front of an electrifying Madison Square Garden crowd where paid attendance forced the venue to open the upper mezzanine section for only the second time since 2001, Miguel Cotto took a unanimous decision over ?Sugar? Shane Mosley. Cotto spent much of the night working behind a powerful jab and straight right hand, and the action was competitive throughout. Scores were 115-113 twice, 116-113 on the third card. The fight pitted the future of the welterweight division in Cotto with a former pound-for-pound king in Mosley, with the youth and power punching of Cotto winning out over the experience, footwork, and combination punching of Mosley.
The action began in earnest in round one, with both fighters having their moments. Cotto surprisingly spent much of his time trying to land the straight right hand upstairs as opposed to committing to his signature body attack. Round two saw Mosley begin to press the action a bit more and land thudding right hands to the head of Cotto. Round three would continue to see Mosley land some crushing right hands, while Cotto worked behind a strong jab and land right hands of his own. The work rate would intensify in rounds four and five when Mosley began to land uppercuts in addition to the right hands that he had found success with in previous rounds. However, Cotto would begin to up his work rate as well with a vicious body attack, and right and left hands upstairs.
Round six saw a change in Mosley?s game plan, with the wily veteran shifting his strategy to boxing from the outside and using his superior footwork to break Cotto?s rhythm. This switch in strategy began to pay off in round seven with Mosley landing clean right hands that clearly got Cotto?s attention. Round eight saw Cotto begin to solve Mosley?s change to boxing, and continued to find success with the jab and straight right hand upstairs. Interestingly, it was round 9 that found Cotto beginning to back off from his usual pressure style, and box from the outside himself. Mosley seemed to capitalize on this and found success again with the right hand and left hook. For a time it was unclear as to whether Mosley hurt Cotto in this round. It was later revealed that Cotto suffered a gash inside his lip that was dripping blood into his throat and causing breathing problems for the young champion. This cut was likely a recurring wound resulting from the cut he suffered during his fight with Zab Judah in June of this year.
Round 10 saw Mosley find continued success with the right hand and uppercut, as he found success with walking Cotto down. However, Cotto came back with right hands, left hooks and body shots to round out a strong 11th round. Round 12 made it quite clear that Cotto thought he had the fight in the bag, as he continued to back up and allow Mosley to press the action.
In a post-fight interview with HBO?s Max Kellerman, Cotto talked about how he changed tactics and began to box and move once he knew that he would not be able to stop Mosley, noting that after he realized he could not knock Mosley out, ?I tried to fight the easy way for me.? When questioned about his next fight, Cotto stuck to his usual statement of leaving opponents up to his management but commented, ?I?m available for all of the big names in the business.?
Mosley solidified his reputation as a consummate professional, and gave nothing but high praise for Cotto and his future, ?Miguel is very strong, not only is he a powerful pressure fighter, he is also a pretty good boxer?he is ready for greatness.? As for the fight scoring, Mosley commented on the fight being very competitive, but refrained from stating that he thought he won the fight, ?I thought it was a close fight?I take my hat off to Cotto?I take my hat off to the young warrior.?
With the first fight in the books of what has been called the ?Final Four? to decide the king of the welterweight division, fight fans can now look toward the December 8th clash between Floyd Mayweather and Ricky Hatton to decide Miguel Cotto?s next opponent.
