Round by Round: Miguel Cotto-DeMarcus Corley.

Tonight in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, WBO light welterweight champion Miguel Cotto remained unbeaten by scoring a fifth round stoppage of former champion DeMarcus Corley. It was a very good action fight with both fighters having great success. The ending was somewhat controversial due to what was perceived as the local referee’s stoppage of Corley who appeared to have taken a knee and was not hurt. Read on to find out what happened

in this fight in front of 10, 000 loyal Puerto Rican fans as Miguel Cotto defeated DeMarcus Corley.

Round one: Cotto is officially seventeen pounds heavier than Corley in the ring and it shows. A big right from Cotto stuns Corley right away. It is not long before Corley is down on the canvas because of a Cotto right-left combination. Corley comes back with a good straight left hand. They trade shots with each other and Corley is hit with a lot of shots but he refuses to back up. Cotto hits Corley after the bell.

Round two: Cotto is very accurate, especially with his right hand. Corley suffers a low blow and Cotto has a point deducted from his score for inflicting it. Corley takes mor ethan a minute to recover from the foul. Corley lands some good right hooks followed by a right-left combination. They hit each other after the bell has sounded once again.

Round three: A big left lands from Cotto. Cotto goes well to the body and looks to be hurting Corley. All of a sudden, a right hook staggers Cotto and he is out on his feet. It is amazing how Cotto is able to hang on as he is extremely hurt and on the verge of being knocked out. Corley follows up but without the intensity that you would expect. Corley’s hands look slow and he is taking his time, not rushing in on Cotto. It is a great fight so far and Corley dominates this round with a lot of accurate punches landed.

Round four: Cotto’s face looks marked, he is definitely in a real fight for the first time in a long while. Cotto starts to come back well and to back Corley up. Cotto suffers a low blow and Corley has a point deducted from his score, honors even in the foul stakes. Cotto is doing well once more but it has to be said that he is taking as much as he is dishing out. The action is even at this point and the fight is very interestingly poised.

Round five: A right hook for Corley lands again, it is such a dangerous punch for him and lands almost at will. Cotto backs Corley up again with a left hand followed by an extended volley of punches. Corley ends up on the canvas again although only one clean punch appears to land. Corley gets up but he is cut in two places. Cotto goes in for the kill and Corley takes a knee, leaving Cotto to miss with several punches as he does so. The referee may have interpreted Corley taking a knee as submission as he waves the fight off.

The winner by fifth round TKO, and still the WBO light welterweight champion of the world: Miguel Cotto.

Jim Cawkwell can be reached at jimcawkwell@yahoo.co.uk