Miguel Coto TKO 10 Sergio Martinez
The new and improved Miguel Cotto (under the tutelage of the legendary Freddie Roach) captured the world linear middleweight crown in a dominant fashion moments ago when he battered defending champion Sergio Martinez moments ago at Madison Square Garden in New York, as seen live on HBO pay-per-view. It was a dominant showing from the Puerto Rican superstar who dropped a frail looking Martinez four times on route to a ninth round TKO when Martinez was forced to retire in his corner. Cotto stunned Martinez out of the gate dropping him with a big left hook in the opening minute of Round 1. Martinez was in a world of trouble and went down two more times, but did manage to get up and survive the round. It was a disastrous opening stanza for the defending middleweight champion who looked to have injured his nagging right knee in the onslaught. Martinez spent the next few rounds gathering his wits as Cotto pressed with power and precession noticing his foe had likely suffered an injury to his leg. Cotto looked poised and relentless through the middle rounds and followed the instructions of the legendary Freddie Roach to a tee as he used power and controlled aggression to build a commanding lead on the cards.
Cotto boxed beautifully down the stretch, and despite the early success, managed to remain composed and calculating switching to a strategic approach to stymie Martinez anytime he tried to et going. He used his high guard and jab to remain largely impregnable and slowly continued to break his man down.
Cotto really stepped in the pedal in Round 9 and in the closing moments was credited with another knockdown as Martinez?s glove grazed the canvass after another brutal barrage. That was more than enough for the defending champion?s corner who elected to stop the bout with their gallant fighter protesting. The bell sounded to begin the tenth round and the bout was waived off.
Miguel Cotto captured the world middleweight crown in commanding fashion in a career best win.
