Miguel Cotto remained undefeated with a unanimous decision over "Sugar" Shane Mosley in what was a very entertaining and fast paced welterweight slugfest.
Cotto came out like he always does throwing hard shots to both the body and the head. He was able to land a good number of shot but never had Mosley in trouble. Shane also was landing good power punches but just couldn't land that one shot to stun the younger hungier champion.
Fighters that don't run away and clinch always make for a good fight and that's what we saw tonight. Both warriors came to fight and to impose their will on the other man. Cotto was just the better man tonight. Mosley earned a lot of respect for the way he fought.
Mosley looked to have worn Cotto down a bit with body shots of his own. In the 9th and 10th rounds Cotto appeared to be gassed. Shane applied a lot of pressure and was looking for the kill. He might have emptied his own tank in the process however. Cotto once again got aggressive and secured the victory with two good rounds in both the 11th and 12th.
This fight did not have any knockdowns but it was one of the better matches I have seen in awhile. Two hungry fighters putting everything they had into every second and every punch.
After the fight, Mosley seemed to be fine that he didn't get the decision which I thought was strange. You hardly ever see a boxer that didn't think he won a decision, no matter how close it was or wasn't. He kept complimenting Cotto, which was very classy. Mosley mentioned possibly hanging up the gloves. Maybe he'll be that rare guy that doesn't come back for one or two fights too many.
Cotto on the other hand, has much bigger things ahead of him. I would love to see him get in the squared circle with Floyd Mayweather Jr after he disposes of Ricky Hatton. That would be some megafight. The top two pound for pound fighters in the world that just happen to be undefeated. I have goosebumps just thinking about it.
On the undercard, I saw the worst decision I have ever seen in all of my years watching boxing and I have seen some horrible ones. Joel Casamayor retained his lightweight title in a fight that saw him win two rounds at the most, and that's being generous. Jose Armando Santa Cruz was flat out robbed of a win. HBO's announcers knew it was garbage and stated that's the problem with boxing today. Seeing things like that make you wonder if judges are in people's back pocket. They couldn't really have been watching the fight. It's a shame.
Antonio Margarito also fought on the undercard and looked as sharp as ever. He did what he didn't do in his last loss to Paul Williams, and that was come out throwing punches. He needed less than one round to knock out Golden Johnson. Margarito is one of the better fighters in the world and will be fighting for titles for a long time.
Overall, the fight card was good due to the main event living up to the hype. Anytime Miguel Cotto fights, I know I'll be there watching. He gives the fans their money's worth and is a true champion.