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Last Saturday night on the eve of the Puerto Rican Day parade, Madison Square Garden was so full of success stories I don’t know what to write about first.
Do I start with the excitement of the sell out crowd of 20,685 fans, the instant classic between Cotto and Judah, the entertaining undercard bouts or the promoter that put it all together?
I decided to start by giving credit where credit is due. Top Rank is to be commended for putting together an entertaining extravaganza from start to finish.
CEO of Top Rank, Bob Arum promised good match ups throughout the entire fight card and that the crowd would also be entertained in-between bouts, delivering on both.
In between bouts, the crowd enjoyed the music of world famous DJ Justin Hoffman. Looking up at the crowd from the ring, you could see many of the fans dancing to the music in between the fights.
Although the split decision win of Yuri Foreman, 23-0 (8), against Anthony Thompson, 23-2 (17), was a lackluster performance, the other undercards did not disappoint.
Humberto Soto, 42-5-2 (26), showed why he is the best kept secret of the super featherweight division by his dismantling of Bobby Pacquiao, 27-13-3 (12).
His seventh round KO of Pacquiao came from multiple shots to the body and a relentless pressing attack.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr walked into the ring with loud cheers from the crowd as his father Chavez Sr accompanied him.
Chavez Jr, 32-0-1 (25), made short work of the last fighter to defeat his father in the ring, Grover Wiley, 30-10-1 (14), with a quick KO in the third round.
The build up towards the main event grew with a crescendo. The sold out crowd of 20,685 cheered as they anticipated the main event.
As the fighters made their ring walks, Zab Judah was met with some cheers but an overpowering amount of booing.
When the crowd got the first glimpse of Miguel Cotto, the cheers were deafening. I am not ashamed to say that it actually gave me goose bumps as somehow the cheers got even louder as he approached the ring.
From the opening bell, the excitement started after a few jabs being thrown, Judah landed a huge uppercut that rocked Cotto, who responded with a vicious hook to the body.
Cotto later lands an accidental low blow that drops Judah to the canvas and Zab took a break of about a minute to recover while Cotto received a serious warning from the referee.
Both fighters provided good exchanges during the second and third rounds. Cotto seemed to be getting the better of the rounds by throwing more combinations than Judah.
Another low blow by Cotto in third floored Judah, this time forcing the referee to deduct a point.
Cotto begins to be able to cut off the ring in the fourth round. Judah is throwing less punches as Cotto keeps the pressure on through the fifth round, throwing three and four punch combinations.
The sixth round started with a clash of heads that cause both fighters to be cut above the eye. Cotto lands a huge right that sends Judah back towards the corner.
Cotto continued to pressure the tiring Judah through the seventh and eighth rounds, switching to southpaw and back to orthodox throughout the rounds to counter some of Judah’s angles.
Judah showed a lot of heart in the ninth round, trying to stand his ground and was able to land one punch at a time, but Cotto just continued to keep pressuring him with four and six punch combinations.
Judah finally took a knee to wipe the streaming blood from his eye and catch a breather to stop the Cotto onslaught.
Although both fighters are tired going into the tenth round, Cotto is able to dig deep and keep up the punches.
Early in the eleventh round, Cotto lands a jab and uppercut that sends Judah to the canvas. He was up quickly but definitely hurt.
Cotto moved in to finish the fight with a barrage of punches as Judah staggered back to the ropes, the referee stepped in and called a halt to the fight.
If I thought the crowd was deafening upon Cotto’s ring walk, hearing the volume upon Cotto’s victory was somehow nearly twice the volume.
Miguel Cotto improves to 30-0 (25) while Zab Judah drops to 34-5 (25).
There is nothing like watching a live fight with a raucous crowd and two warriors giving all they have in the ring.
Cotto is to be congratulated for his pressure fighting style and Judah for showing heart by never giving up.
Thanks again to Top Rank for putting on an unforgettable evening of boxing entertainment.
