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.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
THRILLER: Raphinha gave Barca a 3-2 lead with two minutes remaining of regular time, but Francesco Acerbi equalized the game in the second minute of added time Davide Frattesi on Tuesday fired Inter into the UEFA Champions League final with an extra-time winner that gave the Italians a stunning 4-3 triumph over Barcelona, 7-6 on aggregate. Italy midfielder Frattesi won a tie for the ages under a downpour in Milan when he lashed home in the 99th minute, sending a packed and rocking San Siro wild with joy. Simone Inzaghi’s team will face either Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this month in Munich, Germany, where they would feel they have a great chance to be crowned kings of Europe for a fourth time after
RSS