By Bill Calogaro

Photo © Ed Mulholland/FightWireImages.com

Miguel Cotto stopped Zab Judah in the eleventh round retaining his WBA Welterweight Title. The bout was broadcast live from Madison Square Garden in New York City on HBO’s PPV. This fight was well worth the money.

Over the past several years, boxing fans have been force-fed garbage match-ups on PPV and premium cable channels. More often than not, we have seen one-sided, boring fights and the additional BS that comes before and after the bout. Thankfully, this was not the case with Saturday’s main event at Madison Square Garden. (There was some BS after the bout, but that’s OK) This is the first time in a long time that I can honestly say that I felt the fight was worth the money. I doubt anyone who saw the fight live, either at the Garden or via PPV would have a hard time arguing that.

In the first round, Zab Judah controlled the action. His speed and power seemed like it would be too much for Cotto. He totally dominated the round. A solid left stunned Cotto and after landing several more left-right-left combinations, Judah had Miguel Cotto in serious trouble. Cotto managed to survive the round without going down. He did sustain a severe cut through his bottom lip that had blood pouring out as he went back to his corner. After this round, it really looked like Judah may end this fight quickly.

Round two was almost exactly like round one, except for one thing: Cotto battered Judah.

Miguel Cotto began his attack, throwing multi punch combinations while mixing in his patented body shot to win this round. Judah was not hurt during the round, but was not throwing many punches either.

During round three, Miguel Cotto had a point deducted for a low blow that sent Jab Judah to the canvas writhing in pain. Zab was able to land several hard punches, none putting Cotto into trouble, but enough to steal the round. There was an unintentional head butt that caused a cut over Zab Judah’s right eye.

The fourth, fifth and sixth rounds were all the same. They were action-packed rounds of boxing. Cotto was winning the rounds by out punching Judah. He was able to land flush, solid punches and continued to work Judah’s right eye and his body. Judah was landing punches as well and tried working the bleeding lip area of Cotto. Although these rounds went back and forth, I think Cotto was able to clearly win them on the scorecards. By the end of an ultra-exciting sixth round, both fighters were bleeding and had swelling over their right eyes. I kept thinking…..Wow……What a Fight!

At the start of the seventh round, Judah came out like he did in the first round. He seemed to be fresh and was able to land powerful left-right-left combinations. At this point, I started to think he had been saving himself for these later rounds. A solid left-right combo to the head of Cotto clearly sent him reeling in trouble, but again Miguel was able to survive the round without hitting the canvas. This was Zab’s round.

Just like he did in the second round, after losing the first, Cotto took control of the eighth round, battering Zab Judah. He was landing punches seemly at will, both upstairs and down. Cotto threw a beating on Judah during the entire round. Judah’s only response to Cotto’s onslaught was all he seemed able to do….stick out his tongue, tell Cotto to come on more and even pound his chest. I’m not sure what he thought he accomplished from doing this, but what I am sure of, is that by the end of the round, as Judah walked back to his corner, he looked like a beaten man that had no answers.

Round nine picked up where the eighth ended. Cotto was landing heavy shots to the body, followed by bombs to the head of Judah. Zab was not throwing many punches back and when he did, it was only one at a time. Miguel Cotto was finding the right spots for almost every punch he unleashed. Judah began boxing like a desperate fighter as Cotto continued his relentless attack, throwing body and head combinations that finally forced Zab Judah to take a knee and an eight count. When he continued, he finished the round strongly by landing multi-punch combinations to the head of Miguel Cotto.

As the tenth round began, Zab Judah’s eye was grotesque. It was swollen to the size of a golf ball, and bleeding heavily. Miguel Cotto’s eye was also bleeding and swollen and his lip was still flowing blood like an open faucet. Both fighters looked as bad as the fight was good. They both left no doubt that they each were warriors and were fighting the best they could during a clearly defining match-up for both of their careers. Judah started the round strong, landing some convincing blows, but Cotto was able to turn the tables and steal the round.

Cotto started the eleventh round strongly and quickly and after approximately twenty seconds, sent Judah down with a solid right-left-right combination to the head. Zab was up quickly, as if to say it was a “flash knock down” but after absorbing several hard shots to the body and head as he was against the ropes, referee Arthur Mercante Jr. jumped in and stopped the fight, officially at 49 seconds of the 11th round, giving Miguel the TKO win.

Miguel Cotto retains his WBA Welterweight Title and his undefeated record, which now stands at 30-0 (25 KOs). Zab Judah in one of the best performances of his career, drops to 34-5 (25 KOs) 2 NC.

After the fight, Larry Merchant, who did a great job during the fight, seemed like he was a fish out of water during the post-fight interviews. Cotto was gracious, giving credit to Judah, as being his toughest fight to date, while Zab Judah acted like an excuse-maker, as usual, and demanded a rematch.

All in all, this was a great fight. Not only was it good for the fan, I believe it was also good for the sport of boxing. It had everything we want in a Title bout, offered on PPV. It was competitive on paper, it was in a big venue (over 20,600 in attendance) and most importantly, it was very competitive INSIDE the ring. This fight was well worth the price. Fights like this should absolutely and positively be the norm, not the exception. Nonetheless, I am glad we were treated to it and hope it sets the precedence for fights to come.

The under card, was a little less desirable, but was acceptable with one exception. In the first fight televised, Yuri Foreman fought Anthony Thompson in a ten-round Middleweight bout. It was an awful fight due to the fact that Yuri Foreman is TERRIBLE. All he did was hold and try to survive the fight. Never once did he look like he was trying to actually win the fight. I think he was EXPOSED as being a fighter who has been over-protected and definitely failed to impress during this fight.

Anthony Thompson, however, was the aggressor throughout the ten-round contest, landing the harder shots as well as overall landing more punches. In addition, he had to combat Foreman’s holds throughout the fight. In one of the WORST decisions I have seen in a while, one judge at ringside scored the fight 96-94 in favor of Thompson while the other two scored the fight in favor of Foreman with 97-93 and 96-94 scores giving Yuri Foreman the GIFT Split-Decision victory. TheDailySports.com scored the fight 97-93 in favor of Anthony Thompson.

Foreman improves to 23-0 (8 KOs) and in my opinion is a fighter that is all smoke and mirrors. Anthony Thompson, clearly the better fighter, was robbed….blatantly and drops to 23-2 (17 KOs). This was the ONLY blemish on this card, but it was so bad, I wish I had never wasted the time to watch it. It was a terrible fight and an even worse decision.

One other point of this fight that was equally awful was the refereeing job of Charlie Fitch. Not once did he warn Foreman about holding. He clearly should have done something other than what he did do, which was NOTHING. His poor refereeing job added to the stench of this fight.

In the co-featured event, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. avenged his Father’s loss to Grover Wiley by knocking him out at 2:27 of the third round. From the first round, it appeared as if Chavez was “toying” with Wiley. Once he got his body shots finding their targets, there was little Wiley could do.

A solid body shot sent Grover Wiley down in the first round. He was up quickly and finished the round, which actually was his best. Round two had Chavez continue his assault and it was during this round, it became clear to me that Jr. was trying to make Wiley feel some extra pain as payback for beating his boxing legend Father, Julio Cesar Chavez.

During the start of the third, Chavez continued punishing Wiley as a devastating left hook found Grover’s ribs, sending him down for an eight-count. As he continued, Jr. continued his attack when another powerful left hook sent Grover Wiley down and out.

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. improves to 32-0-1 (25 KOs) while Grover Wiley drops to 30-10-1 (14 KOs).

In other action, Humberto Soto knocked out Bobby Pacquiao at 1:48 of the seventh round of their scheduled ten-round 130 lb bout. A crushing right hand stopped Pacquiao in his tracks and seconds later; Soto landed a devastating left hook to the body that sent Manny’s younger brother down and out.

Humberto Soto improves to 42-5-2 (26 KOs) 1 ND, while Bobby Pacquiao drops to 27-13-3 (12 KOs).

The bottom line is that this card, with the exception of everything to do with the Yuri Foreman vs. Anthony Thompson fight, was an exceptional one. The fights were competitive on paper; the fans intense and the fights themselves were very entertaining. This was a much-needed shot in the arm for boxing and I for one, hope this begins a streak of more quality matches with the best against each other. This will truly create legitimate contenders and get rid of the pretenders that take up ranking spots.

Fights like Cotto vs. Judah is NEEDED to keep boxing on a positive side, rather then seeing fights that are one-way blowouts or hugging shows, or bicycle riding, etc. These are the kind of bouts boxing needs all of the time. Best of all, these are the kind of bouts boxing fans deserve. The way it used to be. Thank you Miguel Cotto and Zab Judah.