MGM Grand, Las Vegas, WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (36-2, 29KOs) knocked out Ricardo Mayorga (29-8, 23KOs) in the twelfth and final round. The fight lived up to the hype with action, drama, and a lot of trading from start to finish.
The first round had the action most expected. Cotto landed a few good power shots. Mayorga tried to land a lot of his bombs, with very few getting through. The second started with a bang. They were trading shots from the start, and Cotto was landing some very good hooks to the body. Mayorga may have been affected by a few of those hooks to the body because he started to use his legs and circled around. Near the end of the round, Mayorga stood his ground to trade shots with the champion. At the start of the third, Mayorga backed himself against the ropes and dared Cotto to exchange punches. The crowd stood their feet as both boxers were trading bombs at close range. Near the end of the round, Cotto landed a few good hooks to the body and the head of Mayorga.
They were back at it at the start of the fourth. This time around, Cotto kept his distance and landed punches coming in. Mayorga was allowing Cotto to lure him in for a big shots. Mayorga and Cotto would trade often in this round, but the champion’s punches were faster and more accurate. Just when Cotto was getting started, Mayorga began a rally to close the fourth with a series of combinations. There was more leather flying in the fifth. Mayorga once again forced himself in a corner and dared Cotto to come in, which he did. The crowd stood up as Cotto landed some hard uppercuts and hooks to the body. Mayorga started countering back with a few punches of his own. Cotto’s counters, and his leads, were starting to land often. Mayorga showed his chin by taking these punches very well.
The sixth was more of a boxing match. Cotto used his superior skill to outbox Mayorga. They were back to trading in the seventh. Mayorga was getting more accurate with his power shots on the inside. Cotto continued to come in and trade punches with him. Cotto was either taking a round off or he was starting to get tired, but Mayorga was landing a lot of punches and easily took the round. Cotto went back to boxing in the eight and used accurate punches off the jab to keep Mayorga back.
Cotto once again seemed to slow down in the ninth, and once again Mayorga was able to land a lot of hard punches – especially in the final minute of the round. Cotto returned to his boxing in the tenth. The jab was working well and Mayorga missed a lot of his punches. In the final ten seconds, Mayorga caught Cotto flush with a hard hook, which made Cotto respond back with at least four to five shots in return.
Mayorga took the fight to Cotto at the start of the eleventh. Cotto was starting to coast and Mayorga dared him to trade in the corner. This time Cotto stayed back and continued to box. At the end of the round, Mayorga charged after Cotto win a series of punches. Cotto managed to avoid most of them.
At the start of the twelfth, they traded hooks and Mayorga got caught with a counter that senthim down – and he seemed to be very hurt. It was not clear, but Mayorga may have broken his hand as they exchanged those hooks. Mayorga beat the count and Cotto went for the kill. Mayorga was favoring his arm and told the referee that he was unable to continue.
