Valiant Jew loses crown to Puerto Rican icon in the Bronx

In a fight marred with controversy, Puerto Rican icon Miguel “Junito” Cotto defeated Jewish fighter Yuri Foreman by a ninth-round TKO to capture the WBA super welterweight crown Saturday night at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

Cotto (35-2, 28 KOs) was extremely aggressive and he dominated the lanky Foreman (28-1, 8 KOs) from the outset of the bout.

In the seventh round, Foreman slipped and badly twisted his right knee.

“I will need surgery and I don’t know yet how big it is,” said Foreman, 29, who tore his meniscus and stretched numerous knee ligaments when he fell to the canvas. “I feel OK.”

Despite Foreman’s severe wound, referee Arthur Mercante Jr. insisted that the fight continue and he even boldly disregarded a towel that was thrown into the ring by one of the Israeli’s cornermen to halt the bout.

As evidenced by his paltry knockout ratio, Foreman could not hurt the immortal Glass Joe.

Foreman relies heavily on his speed and defense and, once he injured his wheel, he was essentially a lamb to the slaughter going to combat with Cotto.

Courageously, Foreman decided to continue fighting regardless that his agility at that point rivaled John Goodman’s.

However, Cotto landed a vicious body shot in the ninth round that crippled Foreman and caused Mercante to mercifully cease the pummeling.

Prior to the match billed as the “Stadium Slugfest,” many fans and analysts considered Cotto to be a broken commodity.

Cotto had lost two of his past four matches and his defeats were brutally violent.

“Junito” was badly battered in those losses by the legendary Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs) and scumbag Mexican pugilist Antonio Margarito (38-6, 27 KOs).

“I proved tonight, everybody who said Miguel Cotto was finished, everybody failed,” said Cotto, 29, a four-time titlist.

In the loss, Foreman earned a tremendous amount of deserved respect.

“As a Jew, I couldn’t be more proud of Foreman,” said Dustin Tischler, 29, of Brookline. “I like him more now than ever.”

The 2001 New York Golden Gloves champ is a skilled boxer, and a valiant warrior, and he will inevitably again flourish in the squared circle once his knee is properly healed.

Conversely, Cotto is seemingly a reborn prizefighter with a litany of professional options to mull.

Miguel Cotto is a great fighter and it is good for boxing that he managed to emphatically resurface this past weekend.

This fight did not end in a draw, and there was a winner.

Nevertheless, Yuri Foreman was not a loser in the Bronx either.