Narrow Margin: Miguel Cotto Overcomes Joshua Clottey

(Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Miguel Cotto escaped Madison Square Garden last night with a bloody 12-round split decision victory over Joshua Clottey in a bitterly contested fight.  Cotto, now 34-1 (27), retained his WBO welterweight title before a frenzied throng of nearly 18,000.  Final scores were 115-112, 113-114, and a curious 116-111.

The fight began with a thunderous roar from the pro-Cotto, and mostly Puerto Rican, crowd.  Round one started cautiously, with both fighters exchanging jabs and sizing each other up. 

It ended with Clottey suffering a flash knockdown just before the bell when a perfectly timed jab from Cotto dropped him on the seat of his pants.  Clottey returned to outwork Cotto in the round two, throwing his jab with precision and landing with straight rights. 

A head butt late in round three changed the complexion of the fight dramatically.  Cotto, 146, bled profusely from a titanic cut above the left brow for the remainder of the bout and pawed at it over and over in an effort to clear his vision. 

Ringside physician Anthony Curreri examined the nasty gash several times between rounds throughout the fight, but allowed the match to continue. 

Clottey worked Cotto over the in the fourth round, landing damaging left hooks and connecting regularly with his nasty if unorthodox right uppercut from the outside.  Cotto never found the answer to the jarring uppercut and took dozens of them over the course of the fight.  

A nifty jujitsu move from Cotto in a relatively even round five sprawled Clottey headfirst onto the canvas where Clottey apparently bruised his knee.  Referee Arthur Mercante, Jr., gave Clottey time to recuperate but deducted no points. 

Cotto dominated round six, trapping his opponent against the ropes and unloading a fusillade of punches against a defensive Clottey who appeared reluctant to test the strength of his injured knee. 

While Mercante, Jr., implored a rattled Clottey to fight back in order to prevent a stoppage, Cotto buried hard left hooks to the body and threw a volley of punches to the head.

After such a debilitating round, Clottey came out determined to reestablish control and he did so with a vengeance.  For the next few rounds—7,8,9—Clottey ignored the pain and wrenched control of the action, landing flush rights, uppercuts, and left hooks that staggered Cotto and sent the Puerto Rican on the retreat. 

By the eighth round Cotto appeared spent, the crowd was as silent as a funeral procession, and Clottey, 147, stalked his opponent relentlessly.

Over the last three rounds, however, Clottey eased the pressure and allowed Cotto to move and land single shots from the outside.  Occasionally Cotto would trap Clottey on the ropes and flurry without much velocity in his punches.  When the final bell rang, both fighters were confident of victory.

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