"Sugar Shane Mosley hailed conqueror Miguel Cotto as a young lion on the road to greatness after losing to the Puerto Rican at
Cotto retained his WBA Welterweight title and his unbeaten record as held off a spirited challenge from four-time former world champion Mosley with an unanimous points victory over the American.
While never truly dominating 36-year-old Mosley, Cotto, nine years his junior, did enough over 12 rounds to eke out the victory in a pulsating contest in front of 15,251.
Mosley, whose record slipped to 44-5 (37KOs) while Cotto’s improved to 31-0 (25KOs), was in good spirits despite his defeat and praised his victor.
“It was a great fight. Miguel was very strong, not only was he a powerful puncher but he can box. He mixed it up and did a hell of a good job.
“He’s a young lion on the way to greatness.
“For a guy to be fighting in the ring like that, when I was fighting him and he kept fighting me back, the guy did a great job.”
Cotto said he was satisfied that he had got his preparation for the fight spot on.
“When I was in
“I wanted to give my best performance for the fans and I thought I did.”
While never quite reaching the epic proportions of Cotto’s previous defence against Zab
The contrasting styles of the two boxers showed immediately as Mosley displayed his quick hands while Cotto stalked his man, picking his moments to land telling power punches in a cagey opener.
The fight really came alive at the end of the second round when Mosley caught the champion with clubbing right, provoking an immediate response from Cotto as the rivals traded fast and furious blows over the final 30 seconds.
Mosley’s right again did damage midway through the third with two hooks to Cotto’s head before giving him a taste of his own medicine with a big right to the body, punches that momentarily subdued the large Puerto Rican contingent in the Garden.
The round closed with another furious exchange, Mosley unloading with combinations as Cotto countered with sharp, straight rights.
And so it continued, Mosley finding Cotto’s chin with a right upper cut in the fourth only to get a left hook to his cheek in exchange, with neither fighter able to truly dominate the other but Cotto just shading the contest.
The sixth round, though, belonged to Cotto as he repeatedly landed shots on Mosley’s head and chin without any significant response.
Mosley rallied in the seventh with a big right hook that knocked Cotto’s head back and his own fans found their voices in the ninth as their man took the fight to the champion, rocking Cotto back onto the ropes in the dying seconds before landing a left hook to the head to take the round.
“I was hurt,” Cotto said of that moment. “Mosley punches real hard and I had to go away for a while but I came back strong.”
Mosley stormed out of his corner at the start of the 10th and again had Cotto in trouble on the ropes. The rivals continued to trade punches, Mosley breaching the champion’s defences with a right upper cut and Cotto landing a straight left on the challenger’s nose, rocking Mosley’s head back.
The 11th was just as relentless, Mosley this working the body before Cotto broke out in the final 10 seconds to hurt his man at the bell.
The final round still gave both fighters everything to box for with Cotto’s fans erroneously cheering as Mosley went down in the champion’s corner but only with a slip.
Mosley again took the fight to Cotto and opened a cut on the corner of the Puerto Rican’s right eye although it appeared to be from a clash of heads.
“He caught me with some good shots but I never felt like I was going to go down,” Mosley said.
“I got a buzz but never really felt hurt.
“And I definitely hit him with some good body shots but he’s so tough.”
courtesy of Simon Lewis, New York.Its not easy to find fight footage right now but take a look at these guys training in preparation for the fight. Fast hands!!
