Miguel Cotto became the first Puerto Rican to win world championships in four weight divisions, after stopping Sergio Martinez in their WBC world middleweight title fight on Saturday.
“It was a reflection of my hard work [for] 10, 11 weeks,” Cotto said.
Argentina’s Martinez did not get off the stool when the bell rang for the 10th round. He did not speak to the media after the fight and was taken to a hospital as a precaution.
Photo: AFP
“Miguel beat him from pillar to post,” said Martinez’s promoter, Lou DiBella.
Cotto improved to 39-4. Martinez fell to 51-3-2.
In the week leading up to the fight, Cotto’s trainer, Freddie Roach, said his pupil would be able to use his footwork to control the fight and still possessed power even though he moved up a weight class.
Photo: AFP
Cotto vindicated Roach from the opening bell, knocking Martinez down twice in the first round with a flurry of body shots. As the fight progressed, Cotto pressured the Argentine around the ring and attacked when openings were presented.
The Puerto Rican won every round, including a 10-6 first.
“Miguel fought a really great fight,” Roach said. “Thank you, Miguel, for making me look so good. He really gave the guy a boxing lesson.”
Photo: AFP
Martinez forced Cotto to fight in the middle of the ring instead of on the ropes or in the corners, but the Puerto Rican was still able to land a variety of jabs and hooks.
By the end of the eighth round, the Argentine had swelling around his right eye and a cut on his forehead resulting from a headbutt.
Cotto landed 54 percent of his punches and 54 percent of his power punches, while Martinez connected on 31 percent of his punches and landed 60 of 157 power punches.
BRAEHMER, BOLONTI
AP, SCHWERIN, Germany
Juergen Braehmer of Germany unanimously outpointed Roberto Feliciano Bolonti of Argentina to retain his WBA light heavyweight belt on Saturday.
The judges scored it 118-109, 119-108, 119-108 in favor of the 35-year-old Braehmer, a former WBO champion who was making his second defense of the title he won by beating the US’ Marcus Oliveira in December last year.
Braehmer was in control throughout the bout, with the exception of the fifth round. However, he recovered immediately in the sixth and the sight of Bolonti’s bloody nose in the seventh spurred the defending champ further in his hometown of Schwerin in northern Germany.
“He was the expected difficult opponent who was hard to hit. He was a tough dog. We wanted to show opponents like this to Schwerin,” Braehmer said.
Bolonti threw everything into the final round when it was clear he needed a knockout, but the German was too strong, improving to 44-2 (32 KOs), while Bolonti, also 35, dropped to 35-3 (24 KOs).
“He’s the deserved world champion,” Bolonti said of Braehmer.
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