On Saturday night, June 5, Miguel Cotto proved that those dismissing him from top level professional boxing were wrong. Becoming a World Champion once again, he took the World Boxing Association (WBA) 154 pound Light Middleweight title with a 9th round TKO of Yuri Foreman. It seemed Foreman was on his way to being stopped if not knocked out in the 8th round when he dropped to the canvas, his right leg giving out from under him while he tried to dance in that direction off the ropes away from Cotto’s attack. Apparently Foreman had an old injury, as was outwardly visible from the support brace fastened around his right knee, and it was aggravated in the middle of competition. From the look in Foreman’s eyes, however, he appeared psychologically defeated a round or two earlier.
Cotto established dominance from the first jab he landed on Foreman in the first round, almost dropping him while driving him into the ropes. Foreman’s chances of lasting the distance seemed to decrease by the moment from that point on, with Cotto continuing to smash Foreman with solid jabs, cut him off with smooth, fast footwork, and land increasingly frequent left uppercuts to the liver and head. Referee Arthur Mercante, Jr. was within his authoritative rights to refuse to stop the fight when a towel was thrown in during the 8th round because it was apparently not an authorized forfeiture from the lead in Foreman’s corner, and the corner lead is required to indicate forfeiture by other means. However, it would have made sense to end the fight at that time rather than allowing Foreman to possibly suffer serious injury.
Cotto’s dominance in this fight fulfilled the Boxers and Writers Magazine prediction, but the overwhelming degree of his success also indicates that the prediction should have been stronger. The moral victory on Foreman’s part is the obvious determination he showed, exhibiting the kind of toughness that got him this far in his career. Cotto will have a tough road ahead of him against the top Junior Middleweights, but he will be competitive and entertaining against any and all he battles in the future.
By
Mark Connor
© Copyright 2010, Mark Connor
