Cotto thrills packed Garden by stopping Judah

By Marc Abrams (ringside)

New York, NY--Miguel Cotto gave his adoring fans something to cheer about on the eve of the Puerto Rican Day Parade by sropping Zab Judah in the eleventh round to retain the WBA Welterweight championship before 20,658 fans in Madison Square Garden.

Judah actually fared well in round one by startling Cotto with a huge left hand. Cotto tried to flurry back but landed a low blow that had Judah riving in pain. Judah started a pattern of jabbing and moving in round two for which Cotto was able to gain a rhythm and started landing some solid combinations that consisted of three and four punches. Cotto landed yet another hard low blow to start round three which had Judah in pain for a quite a few minutes. For that low blow, Cotto was docked a point by referee Arthur Mercante Jr. Cotto came back to win the round, thus an even round was registered. The two fighters clashed heads in round four which caused a cut from around the right eye of Judah. Later in round, Cotto landed a four punch combination that was finished off with a nice right hand. Cotto opened up round five with a hard straight hand and was relentless by coming forward to land some of his vaunted body punches. In round six, Judah hit Cotto on the break which caused for the fighters to touch gloves and embrace following the foul. Later in the round, Cotto rocked Judah with a nice straight right and finished up the round with some more precision body work.

Judah got out of his pattern of Jabbing while going backwards to land a hard three punch combination that had Cotto in trouble for a brief moment in round seven. Cotto began to show the marks from this battle was blood began stream out of the Puerto Rican's mouth. Cotto regained his composure to have a solid round eight that saw Cotto continue to batter Judah all over the ring. Cotto continued with massive body work in round nine and Judah looked liked he was ready to go at any moment. That work made Judah take a step back and subsequently take a knee and receive an eight count from Mercante. Cotto was sensing victory as the bout reached the championship rounds and finally drilled Judah with a hard right and dropped Judah early in the eleventh round. Judah gamely fought on only to eat a three punch combination and Mercante stopped the bout 49 seconds into the round.

Cotto, 146 1/2 lbs of Caguas, Puerto Rico makes the second defense of the WBA crown and stays undefeated at 30-0 while notching his 25th knockouts. Judah, 145 lbs of Brooklyn, NY is now 34-5.

The semi-final saw Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. take on Grover Wiley in a scheduled ten round Jr. Middleweight bout.

This was a non-competitive from the word go as Chavez dropped Wiley with a thudding body shot in the first stanza. Chavez went for the juggler in that round in the form of hard body shots to punctuate the round. Chavez mixed in some more of his repertoire in round two as he threw some uppercuts and straights to go along with some more body work. Chavez dropped Wiley with some more body work and Chavez sensed that Wiley was close to being finished. Chavez was right as he landed a straight right that was followed by another body shot for good measure and Wiley went down for a third and final time as he took a ten count.

Chavez Jr, 150 lbs of Culican, Mexico avenged the loss that his legendary father suffered to Wiley and is now 32-0-1 with twenty-five knockouts. Wiley, 149 1/2 lbs of Omaha, NE is now 30-10-1.

Humberto Soto took on Bobby Pacquiao in a scheduled ten round Super Featherweight bout.

Soto scored a knockdown in round one as he caught Pacquiao on the ropes with a left hand. Soto was consistan in dividing up his connect between the head and body of the Philipino southpaw. Soto landed three hard rights in the corner that had Pacquiao stumbling in round two. Soto's damage was evident as a nasty cut opened up over the right eye of Pacquaio. Soto continued to land big shots before being rocked by a big counter right from Pacquiao. That set off a great exchange between the fighters.

By round six, Pacquiao's blood was streaming was streaming down his face due to the offensive display by Soto. Soto finished the sixth round with good flurry. Soto landed a hard right that was followed by a body shot that floored Pacquiao in round seven. Pacquiao did not beat the count of referee Gary Rosato at 1:48 of the seventh round.

Soto, 131 lbs of Tijuana, Mexico will now look to fight Bobby's brother, Manny Pacquiao with a record of 42-5-2 with twenty six knockouts. Pacquiao, 131 lbs of Genreal Santos, City Phillipines is now 27-13-3.

Yuri Foreman opened up the Pay-Per-View telecast with a tactical split decision over Anthony Thompson in a ten round Jr. Middleweight bout.

Foreman countered well and didn't let Thompson find a rhythm that he had been getting in recent wins over Mohammad Siad and Robert Frazier. There was a lot of work on the inside and rounds were tough to score. Those scores read 97-93 and 96-94 for Foreman and 96-94 for Thompson.

Foreman, 156 1/4 lbs from Brooklyn, NY is now 23-0. Thompson, 156 3/4 lbs of Philadelphia is now 23-2.

Aigens Mendez opened up the card by dropping Bobby Campbell three times in 106 seconds and score a first round stoppage in a Jr. Lightweight bout.

Mendez, 129 1/2 lbs of San Juan De la Maugua, DR is now 5-0 with four knockouts. Campbell, 130 lbs of Copiaque, NY is now 2-3-2.

Jesus Rojas remained undefeated by scoring a unanimous decision over Torrance Daniels in an entertaining six round Jr. Featherweight bout.

Rojas, from the same camp as Cotto. landed some solid body shots and hard combinations was tested as Daniels fired back and gave as good he got in a lot of exchanges. Rojas was more active and landed the better shots to win by scores of 59-55, 58-56 and 56-56 to raise his record to 7-0. Daniels, 121 lbs of Colorado Springs, CO is now 9-3-1.

Wayne Johnsen dropped Anthony Bartinelli early in round one en route to a unanimous decision in a six round Middleweight bout

Bartinelli controlled the last half of the fight by landing some good right hands and had Johnsen holding on several occasions, but Johnson had built up a enough of as lead to win all cards by scores of 60-53, 59-54 and 57-56.

Johnsen, 161 lbs of Lyndhurst, NJ is now 16-1. Bartinelli, 161 lbs of Phoenix, AZ is now 19-10-2.

Peter "Kid Chocolate" Quilin won an eight round unanimous decision over Jamal Davis in Middleweight bout.

Not much happened in the fight with Quilin landing enough right hands to take the fight 80-72, 80-72 and 79-73.

Quilin, 160 lbs of New York is 13-0. Davis, 161 lbs of Philadelphia is now 7-2