We tried to tell you, Cotto wins mismatch with Mayorga
At their face off for the media's behalf, there was no sign of a shrinking violet.
Round by round coverage:
Round 1 Cotto lands more punches while Mayorga throws wild looping hooks, like a matador flashing his cape at a bull. Solid left hook by Cotto lands as the round ends with a decent exchange. Cotto wins the round 10-9
Round 2 Mayorga unleashes body shots on Cotto. Cotto jabs Mayorga to keep him at bay. Mayorga connects with a left upper cut. Closer round but the edge still goes to Cotto 10-9
Round 3 Mayorga continues to miss the more elusive Cotto who continues to use his jab. Mayorga then puts on a show by asking Cotto to, “Come on and fight!” He runs into a neutral corner and attempts to goad Cotto into a corner-of-the-ring brawl. Cotto doesn’t get caught up in his chicanery and continues to be patient by working the jab and pounding the midsection. Near the end of the round, Cotto connects with a solid left hook. Cotto 10-9
Round 4 Cotto keeps hitting Mayorga with his jabs, while Mayorga continues to miss. Once again, Mayorga starts to act crazy before he slips. Cotto connects with another solid left hook. Just before the bell sounds Mayorga unleashes a fairly decent combination. Cotto 10-9
Round 5 Cotto is even more aggressive this time out and lands a nice uppercut. Mayorga continues to miss but does connect with a solid right to the body. At this point Mayorga appears to be looking for that one big knockout punch. Cotto lands two more left hooks. Mayorga goes to the body. Cotto 10-9
Round 6 Mayorga remains flat and is not moving as much as he did earlier. After Cotto lands a left upper cut, Mayorga misses. Before the bell sounds both get in a couple good licks. Cotto 10-9
Round 7 After Cotto lands a combination that features a solid right hook, Mayorga continues to miss. Then all of sudden Mayorga connects with a few solid jabs and an upper cut and starts to get the best of the exchanges. Near the end of the round Mayorga backs Cotto up. Mayorga wins his first 10-9 round.
Round 8 Mayorga’s wild rabbit punch to the back of the Cotto’s head draws a warning from the referee. Cotto’s jabs appear to be having an affect on Mayorga’s bruised face. After Cotto lands a good combination, Mayorga connects. Cotto 10-9
Round 9 Cotto is solid with snapping jabs and good combinations to the head. Mayorga continues to look for that one big punch and seems to be running out of gas. Cotto 10-9
Round 10 By this time, Cotto’s devastating jab that is landing at will has caused major swelling over Mayorga’s left eye. After Mayorga connects near the end of the round, Cotto retaliates with a solid left hook. Cotto 10-9
Round 11 Cotto is now taking Senor Mayorga apart with the solid jabs. When Mayorga does connect, he starts acting crazy again. After missing twice with his slow motion punches, Cotto again makes him pay with solid snapping jabs. Mayorga tries to attack but misses horribly. Cotto 10-9
Round 12 During a flurry of punches, Cotto and Mayorga’s hands clashed just before Cotto landed a solid left and the combined pain forced Mayorga to his knee while gripping his hand. Mayorga stood up to continue but realized he couldn’t close his left hand and decided to end the fight. Some feel the claim of the injured hand was just an excuse to give up on the losing effort. Cotto gets the TKO win.
After the fight came word that Mayorga (29-8-1, 23 KOs), from Managua, Nicaragua, had retired. Boo-hoo! That means no more pre-fight machismo with the predictable taunts and sarcastic looks. All fight long, Cotto’s punches were sharper and harder than Mayorga’s as predicted by his trainer Emanuel Steward.
The victory for Cotto (36-2-0, 29 KOs) was his first title defense of the WBA super welterweight championship he won at Yankee Stadium over Yuri Foreman on June 5, 2010.
On the undercard
Pawel Wolak had little problem defeating Yuri Foreman in a fight that ended in a technical knockout at the end of the sixth round.
After his first career loss to Cotto, ACL surgery and the death of his longtime manager, Foreman (28-2, 8 KOs) of Brooklyn, N.Y., appears to have lost focus. From the outset, Wolak (29-1, 19 KOs) set the tone by keeping the pressure on. Foreman and his corner were unable to make any meaningful adjustments which allowed Wolak to rule with his steady barrage of combinations and overhand rights. After six rounds, Foreman’s corner had seen enough and threw in the towel.
In the evening’s first bout, Miguel Vazquez (28-3-2, 12 KOs), of Guadalajara, México, successfully defended his IBF lightweight title against Leonardo Zappavigna (25-1, 17 KOs), of Sydney, Australia. Vazquez, capitalize on his height advantage to land the snapping jabs.
By the third round, Vazquez had tenderized the skin around Zappavigna’s eyes which led to multiple cuts by the middle of the fight. In the end, the judges ruled the bout an unanimous decision in favor of Vazquez with scores of 118-110 and 117-111 twice.
