Miguel Cotto battered Alfonso Gomez for five rounds to retain his WBA welterweight title on Saturday and set up a fight with new IBF champion Antonio Margarito.
Earlier, Margarito dominated Kermit Cintron for the second time, then knocked him out in the sixth round to win the IBF crown at Boardwalk Hall.
Cotto had no trouble with the outmanned Gomez and ran his record to 32-0 with 26 knockouts when Dr Mark Schaber stopped the fight after a lopsided fifth round. In that round, Gomez went down for the third time. Gomez’s face was swollen almost from the first time the Puerto Rican star hit him in the mismatch.
By the end of the fifth, with the crowd chanting his name, Cotto was backing off, seeing that the one-time participant in The Contender TV show couldn’t contend with his power and precision.
“I wanted to work and do it the right way,” Cotto said of his fourth defense of the title he won in 2006 against Carlos Quintana.
In the third and fourth rounds alone, Cotto outlanded Gomez 108-23, and two of the knockdowns came on body shots. A straight left to the face late in the fifth provided the third knockdown, and Cotto landed 59 percent of his power punches.
“You always worry before you go into a fight,” added Evangelista Cotto, the fighter’s trainer and uncle, “but we knew we had the superior fighter. That was a real beating in there.”
Evangelista Cotto reportedly has been feuding with his nephew and others in the Cotto camp. But there were nothing but smiles for all of them after this fight.
Gomez was disappointed he wasn’t allowed to continue.
“The doctor said I couldn’t see out of my right eye,” he said.
It was a one-sided night. Gomez, of Mexico, never had a chance against the relentless Cotto and, surprisingly, Cintron put up almost no resistance against Margarito.
Margarito handed Cintron the only previous loss of his career three years ago in the fifth round in a WBO championship bout. This time, the Mexican pummeled the champion from the opening bell, then ended the lopsided fight with a devastating left to the body at 1:57 of the sixth.
Margarito had a cut over his left eye for the last three rounds, but it never seemed to bother him. And he opened a cut under Cintron’s left eye in the fifth. By that time, Cintron already was battered.
The fight ended quickly in the sixth after Margarito landed a dozen solid punches, then sent the uppercut directly into Cintron’s ribs. Puerto Rican went down on all fours and never came close to getting up.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
LONG TIME COMING: With the addition of Marcus Smart, the Washington Wizards finally held a team to under 100 points, the last team this season to do so The Detroit Pistons on Monday won their seventh straight game in the NBA with in-form Cade Cunningham making 32 points and grabbing nine rebounds in a 106-97 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Pistons, who are in the playoff position, moved to 32-26, their best record at this stage of a season for 17 years. It was an all-round effort from Detroit with Tobias Harris adding 20 points and Jalen Duren making 19 rebounds along with his 12 points. It was a tight contest until Detroit pulled away late in the third quarter to tie their longest winning streak since the 2014-2015
RSS