“It was the plan we made in Tampa,” said Cotto who was working with trainer Emanuel Steward for the first time. “Working with the jab and putting pressure on him. I just followed the instructions of Emanuel. He’s the guy who knows.”
Before the end though, chaos reigned as a right knee injury suffered by Foreman prompted his corner to throw in the towel in the eighth round, a move of surrender disregarded by Mercante.
“The towel came in in the heat of the battle,” said the referee. “There was no need to stop the fight. At the moment I didn’t know (who threw the towel.) I felt I did the right thing.”
Then the filled ring needed to be emptied and the bout re-started, and Cotto closed the show, but not without a courageous final stand from the Isreal-born Foreman.
“I have to still fight him,” said Cotto. “I can’t stop. I’m sorry because of his knee, but the fight has to go on.”
“I’m not quitting,” said Foreman. “I’m a world champion. I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to continue.”
And before a crowd of 20,272, Foreman and Cotto gave fans their money’s worth in the first Stadium bout since Muhammad Ali fought Ken Norton on September 28, 1976.
Not surprisingly, Foreman used every inch of the ring real estate that he could to open the bout, tossing in quick flurries and the occasional jab to keep the stalking Cotto guessing. For his part, Cotto got in a few shots, but not enough to put together a consistent offensive attack.
A patient Cotto didn’t stray from his chosen path in the second, even jarring Foreman briefly with a straight shot to the head. Foreman’s output dipped a bit in response, though he did catch Cotto with a solid counter left in the final minute.
Foreman brought a stiff jab to the party as round three began, and though busier throughout an effective stanza, the impression was that the cool and collected Cotto was just biding his time until the bouncing Foreman slowed down.
Early in round four, Foreman rocked Cotto with a short right hand, drawing an ‘ooh’ from the crowd. Cotto looked to get even and picked up his forward movement, prompting Foreman to wisely backpedal out of range. When Cotto was able to corner Foreman, he scored well, especially to the body, but his spurts weren’t leading to more substantial damage.
Cotto’s combinations started to come more frequently in round five, and his thudding hooks to the head were finding their mark as well. Foreman rebounded in the second half of the frame though with quick flurries that let the challenger know that he was still around.
The sixth was an interesting round, with Foreman landing more punches, but Cotto’s punches apparently doing more in the way of draining the stamina of the champion, setting the stage for the second half of the bout that would decide things.
In the first minute of the seventh round, Foreman hit the deck, apparently injuring his leg. Foreman took a few seconds to walk off the injury and then Cotto pounced, In the midst of the assault, Foreman went down again because of the banged up leg, bringing a momentary halt to the action again. When the bout resumed, Cotto and Foreman met in the middle of the ring and the two slugged it out. Cotto took full advantage of this change of fortune, but the courageous Foreman would not give in and he fired back at the challenger until the bell rang.
Still limping, Foreman came out for the eighth round, forced to alter his strategy and fight Cotto’s fight. And though Foreman appeared to be holding his own, a towel was thrown into the ring by trainer Joe Grier, apparently ending the bout. Referee Arthur Mercante Jr. disagreed, called time out, and re-started the bout in one of the most bizarre occurrences in recent history. After the round, ring announcer Michael Buffer told the crowd that the bout continued because the towel was thrown in by an outside source, though replays confirmed that it was Grier who was the culprit.
So the bout continued without incident in the eighth, but early in the ninth, a left hook to the body sent Foreman down again, this time prompting Mercante to halt the bout at the 42 second mark.
“Miguel is back,” said Cotto, who lead by scores of 79-73 twice and 78-74 at the time of the stoppage.
With the win, Cotto improves to 35-2 with 28 KOs; Foreman falls to 28-1 with 8 KOs.
Fight Photos (Cotto vs. Foreman)
Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images
(AP Photo/Frank Franklin)
(AP Photo/Frank Franklin)
Manny Pacquiao, left, Liev Schreiber , center, and Naomi Watts sit ringside before the WBA light middleweight title match between Miguel Cotto and Yuri Foreman, Saturday, June 5, 2010 at Yankee Stadium in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Full Fight Download Link (Cotto vs. Foreman)
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