Some certainly expected Miguel Cotto to hold his own against Sergio Martinez, and some even predicted the knockout, but nobody expected the kind of brutal, prolonged domination that the Puerto Rican superstar showed tonight. Over the course of 9 rounds, Cotto, the natural welterweight, dropped the middleweight champion four times, three of those falls coming in the very first round, until Martinez was finally forced to quit on his stool before the start of the 10th, a completely justified decision given the beating he was taking.
Cotto showed the fruit of his years of experience, as well as the newfound focus and aggression given him by renowned trainer Freddie Roach, at times beating Martinez against the ropes, and at others out-jabbing him all around the ring. Wherever the fight went, Martinez couldn't quite get the momentum away from Cotto.
Fraser Coffeen and I discuss this unexpected showing from Cotto, surely the performance of his career, as well as running through the other fights on the card. Andy Lee got a stunning fifth round KO over John Jackson, Javier Maciel beat up and outboxed the heavy handed Jorge Melendez, and supposedly Marvin Sonsona and Wilfredo Vasquez Jr. had a fight as well--I can't remember because I fell asleep, though I did have nightmares about holding, low blows, and myriad other fouls. What do you think that means?
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