By Bill Calogero

In yet another exceptionally entertaining fight, Miguel Cotto retains his WBA Welterweight Title with a unanimous 12-round decision over “Sugar” Shane Mosley on Saturday night in front of a jacked-up crowd from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The show was co-promoted by Top Rank, Inc. and Golden Boy Promotions and was broadcast live on HBO PPV.

In what has seemed to be the case for 2007, Professional Boxing continued its resurgence with another fight that indeed lived up to the expectations of all boxing fans. Both fighters said they were prepared, well trained and brought their A-games. They both said that they were ready to fight. The best part is they both did just that.

The first round was a total feel-out round by both fighters. Mosley made somewhat of a statement within the first few seconds, landing several hard shots to Cotto’s body, as if to send the message that he too can work the body just as decisively as Cotto himself is well known for. Both fighters made it clear they were ready to go and both looked sharp. On my scorecard, I gave this round to Miguel Cotto.

The pace was stepped up in the second round. Both fighters landed solid punches. Mosely was connecting with a hard right and Cotto was able to counter punch effectively. It also appeared that Cotto’s hand speed was a lot faster than Mosley thought. As the round came to a close, both fighters were toe-to-toe unleashing flurries of punches at each other. Although this round was close, I gave the edge to Sugar Shane Mosley because I felt that he landed the harder, more effective punches, but only by a small margin.

Mosley continued to land the harder punches during the third round. Cotto was doing very well using his jab, landing almost at will, but was not as effective with his power punches during this round. Another solid right froze Cotto in his tracks for a second, but as the true warrior he is, he continued on to unleash his own barrage of punches to the head of Mosley. Again, both fighters found themselves toe-to-toe exchanging solid shots at the close of the round. Again, on my scorecard I gave the edge to Mosley.

The fourth round was action-packed. Both fighters landed solid punches both to the head and body of each other. During this round, Cotto seemed to land more punches and also was returning every punch Mosley landed with one or two of his own. Shane begins to look a little tired and Cotto seemed like he just got going. I gave this round to Cotto.

The fifth round was yet another action-packed round which featured both fighters landing hard solid punches on each other. They both were using their jab, followed by solid right hands and both fighters were landing substantial body shots. Again the round was very close, but I gave the round to Miguel Cotto.

When thirty-seconds of the sixth round had elapsed, it seemed to me that Miguel Cotto was beginning to take over this fight. Mosley began bouncing more on his feet and concentrated on keeping his distance, rather than go toe to toe. He was still landing shots, but was content in hitting from afar. Cotto continued his counter punching assault, which scored enough on my card to win the round.

Again, Mosley kept his distance during the seventh round and again Cotto took advantage by scoring punches as Mosley tried to box from his longer arms length. Again, it worked for Cotto, as I gave him the round on my scorecard.

The eighth round saw Sugar Shane Mosley become the aggressor and he began to chase Cotto around the ring. Mosley was able to land several hard punches, his most effective being his right, which was finding a home on Cotto’s head. On my card, Mosley came on to win this round.

When Mosley came out for the ninth round, he seemed rejuvenated. He was up on his toes, dancing around doubling and tripling up his jab and then following them with very solid rights, easily outscoring Miguel Cotto on my scorecard. Mosley also was landing hard lefts, which kept Cotto away.

Mosley stunned Cotto with a solid right to start the tenth round. Shane was able to continuously land his power right and both fighters again were toe to toe in the center of the ring exchanging powerful shots for the final minute of the round. Again, this was a close round, but based on the power punches, I gave the edge to Mosley on my card.

The final two rounds were carbon copies of each other. Sugar Shane Mosley pressed the fight. He was clearly the aggressor and was able to land hard right hooks to Cotto’s body and overhand rights to his head, all following a pinpoint jab. Cotto was landing solid shots too and went into short bursts of punches in flurries, but in my opinion, it was Sugar Shane Mosley who landed the harder punches and he was also the one pushing the fight. I gave both the 11th and 12th rounds to Sugar Shane Mosley.

Two of the three judges at ringside scored the fight 115-113 while the third had it 116-113, all in favor of Miguel Cotto. Cotto retained his WBA Welterweight Title and keeps his undefeated record, improving to 31-0 (25 KOs) and wants the winner of the upcoming Mayweather vs. Hatton mega fight in December.

Sugar Shane Mosley; gracious as always after the fight, drops to 44-5 (37 KOs) and did not seem to worry about whom, when or even if he will fight again, except to also mention interest in the winner of the Mayweather vs. Hatton bout.

I think the judges at ringside got this fight wrong. On my scorecard, I had the fight 115-113 in favor of Shane Mosley. Based on the more meaningful punches and ring generalship, I believe Mosely won this fight. Even the punch stats lean towards my score rather then those of the official judges scoring the fight. Both fighters landed the same amount of punches during the fight and Mosley landed 53% to Cotto’s 39% of power shots.

It was a great fight and it certainly was close, which in the long run, makes the sport of Boxing so great. It could have gone either way, but in the books, Miguel Cotto came out with the W.

In one of the most outrageous, and sickening decisions I think I have ever witnessed in over twenty-five years in the business, Joel Casamayor retained his WBC and Ring Magazine Lightweight Titles with a highly controversial split-decision victory over Jose Santa-Cruz in their 12-round lightweight contest.

Cruz battered Casamayor for most of the twelve rounds, landing solid shots throughout including a punch to Joel’s elbow that sent him to the canvas in the very first round. This fight was not even close!

One Judge at ringside scored the fight 114-113 in favor of Cruz, while the other two had it 114-113 in favor of Casamayor. I am not sure what fight they were watching and I am shocked that the NYSAC could allow this to happen. To say this was a joke is a complete understatement. BoxingScene.com scored the fight 118-109 in favor of Jose Santa-Cruz.

This is an example of when bad is bad in boxing. I hate to say it, but one of two things happened. Either the competence of the judges assigned to this fight was at an all time low or they were following directions. A unification bout with Juan Diaz is the logical fight, but it should be with Jose Santa-Cruz, not Joel Casamayor. This was a sad outcome and yet another black eye on the NYSAC. It was awful. The NYSAC was doing so well…….

Also on the under card, Antonio Margarito got himself right back into the mix with his devastating first round KO win over Golden Johnson in their scheduled 12-round welterweight contest.

As the first round began, Margarito landed two solid uppercuts followed by a solid shot to Johnson’s jaw that sent Golden to the canvas. Johnson managed to get up by the count of ten, but was still in trouble.

Antonio landed another solid uppercut than sent Johnson to a knee and an eight-count. When referee Wayne Kelly allowed the fight to continue, Antonio Margarito came in for the kill, landing a devastating hook to the body of Johnson, followed by yet another uppercut, sending Johnson into the ropes and down again. As he rose to his feet, Wayne Kelly waived the fight off.

The official time was 2:38 of the first round, giving Antonio Margarito the TKO win. He improves to 35-5 (25 KOs) while Golden Johnson drops to 25-8-3 (18 KOs).

Victor Ortiz made quick work of the usually rugged Carlos Maussa in their scheduled 10-round welterweight contest. At 1:47 of the very first round, Ortiz landed a short, powerful left that sent Maussa down and out.

Victor Ortiz improves to 20-1-1 (15 KOs), while Carlos Maussa drops to 19-5 (17 KOs).

Professional Boxing had another weekend of great fights for this resurgent 2007. Better than that, the fights that have been billed as great actually have lived up to it, which is good for the sport. We needed a year like we are having, and honestly, I can’t remember when we have had such a consistent year in boxing in a very long time. We needed it and all we can hope for is for it to continue throughout 2008. Boxing is back, and it’s better than ever.

Tune into “Talkin Boxing With Billy C” this week on TPSRADIO.net on Wednesday to hear full discussions on all of these fights and for everyone in the Rochester, NY area, be sure to tune into WHTK 1280 AM at 6:00am on Saturday mornings to listen to “Talkin Boxing With Billy C”