Round by Round: Miguel Angel Cotto vs. Mohamad Abdulaev.

Last night in New York’s Madison Square Gardens, Puerto Rico’s beloved WBO light welterweight champion Miguel Angel Cotto came to the arena to defend that title against his challenger and former amateur nemesis Mohamad Abdulaev of Uzbekistan. Before the grand event of the Puerto

Rico Day Parade, Cotto made his way to the ring surrounded by his adoring fans, surely a significant portion of New York’s huge Puerto Rican contingent and crossed swords with the man that beat him to an Olympic Gold medal in the 2000 Sydney, Australia Games. The following is what happened punch for punch in this world title fight, brought to you exclusively by SaddoBoxing.com.

Round one: Cotto comes out with the jab and the left hook, Abdulaev gets through with a solid right hand. Cotto is very busy throwing punches but not too many get through Abdulaev’s tight guard. Abdulaev goes in once more for the right hand. Cotto is fighting on the back foot, using a lot of movement. Abdulaev lands a snappy left jab that rocks Cotto’s head back. Cotto is using the ring well and throwing many punches while Abdulaev simply keeps his defense together and looks to trap Cotto on the ropes and unload some sharp punches to the head and body of the young champion.

Round two: Cotto comes out aggressively again but it is a less intense aggression, one more filled with control and finesse in his combinations rather than a straight-out stalking, power-punching display. Abdulaev scores well with a right to Cotto’s ribs. Cotto lands with a sharp left-right combination and backs off. Abdulaev traps Cotto on the ropes again but Cotto fires back and finishes his response with a strong left hook to Abdulaev’s body. Cotto begins to land decent shots to the head and body of Abdulaev whp is certainly being outworked at this point. The fight opens up for a short time as both fighters get through with double-fisted attacks but more often than not, Cotto is not letting Abdulaev get set to load his big shots.

Round three: Cotto’s jab and combinations are very sharp but a right hand response from Abdulaev cracks against the Puerto Rican champion’s head. Abdulaev succeeds in landing yet another right, a punch that may be the key to the fight for him. Cotto goes back to work with his left hook before they exchange a few light jabs. Cotto lands a hook followed by an Abdulaev right hand and Cotto decides to let both his hands go in combinations. This is a good round for Abdulaev who manages to maneuver Cotto into position on the ropes while landing several good right hands. Cotto does not seem to be sustaining much facial damage from the attacks though.

Round four: Cotto’s jab is a constant annoyance to Abdulaev who responds with two good right hand shots. Cotto comes forward for once instead of fighting in retreat and lands some powerful looking combinations to the head and body of the challenger. Abdulaev begins to come on with his right hand and a combination. Cotto scores well to the body with a right hand before taking that same shot upstairs. Abdulaev is not doing enough and is waiting for Cotto to offer him openings but Cotto’s fight plan looks solid and he is sticking to it while being able to do damage to Abdulaev in short bursts off the ropes.

Round five: Abdulaev comes out fast and aggressively this time as Cotto continues to fight going backwards, circling the ring and using his footwork to maintain distance. Abdulaev lands a left hook to the head which Cotto answers with a solid right hand and left uppercut combination. Abdulaev is having trouble landing clean straight right hands at this time. Cotto dances effortlessly out of range but Abdulaev does close the round well with a counter left hook to the head followed by one to the body on the same side.

Round six: Abdulaev comes out with good aggression once again as he must realize that greater pressure is needed to make the champion feel the pace. Abdulaev doubles up with left hooks. Cotto tries for the lead uppercut. Abdulaev’s defense is still keeping him away from many damaging blows but he does have some facial damage from the punches he has taken thus far. They finally open up again for a trade of punches which excites the crowd but neither man comes out with a distinct advantage. Cotto is going to the ropes often and affording the chances to Abdulaev to land some good right hand shots as well as some hurtful looking lefts to the body. Abdulaev’s punch output in this round finally seems as if it exceeds Cotto’s.

Round seven: Cotto starts this round with bad intentions but Abdulaev offers back a left hook, jab and right hand response for Cotto’s troubles. Cotto’s left-right combination stings the challenger and Abdulaev fires back in kind. Cotto answers back again before being driven to the ropes. A snappy combination from Cotto stops Abdulaev from doing much damage inside. This box and move style is Cotto displaying his versatility, a style not often employed by him and it is perhaps a sign of his great confidence that he applies it now against Abdulaev whom many see as a considerable threat to his championship. The HBO broadcasters have Cotto way in front on the scorecards but I am not inclined to agree at this point.

Round eight: Cotto is very elusive here in the early going but Abdulaev catches up to him with a good left hook to the head. A few strong right hands from Abdulaev prompt a huge burst of activity from Cotto who fights his way out of trouble once again. Abdulaev is busier on a more consistent basis and is landing cleaner punches in this round overall. Cotto lands a great combination to the head and Abdulaev is looking quite bad now, especially around his right eye which is incredibly swollen.

Round nine: Cotto steps up the pace, landing round after round of combinations on Abdulaev whose right eye seems to have worsened by the second during the minute break between rounds. Abdulaev takes more punishment before walking away and gesturing to the referee and to the doctor at ringside that he cannot see out of his right eye and the fight is stopped.

The winner by technical knockout in the ninth round, and still the WBO light welterweight champion of the world, Miguel Angel Cotto!

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