Cotto drops Jennings, claims WBO title
NEW YORK – Miguel Cotto, fighting for the first time since suffering the only defeat of a stellar career, shrugged off all the controversy of the past three weeks to regain a version of the welterweight title.
Cotto, who was stopped in the 11th round of a brutal battle with Antonio Margarito in Las Vegas in July, had no problem claiming the vacant WBO welterweight championship by outclassing Michael Jennings on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
Fighting in front of a raucous crowd of 11,120 that cheered his every move, Cotto knocked Jennings down three times to get back on the winning track and regain a position at the top of the division with a fifth-round technical knockout.
The official end came at 2:36.
"I started to go to the body and head and I started to let my hands go," said Cotto, who said he'd like to face the winner of the May 2 fight between Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton. "I threw my punches and I hit him with some good shots. That kid has a lot of strength."
Cotto blasted Jennings around the ring in the fourth round, putting him down twice as the crowd roared its approval. The bell sounded, though, before Cotto could finish the deal. He didn't pounce quickly in the fifth, and Jennings seemed as if he might be able to escape.
But Cotto landed a jab that backed Jennings into a corner and put him down for the third, and what turned out to be the final time, with a vicious assault. Jennnings got up, but referee Benji Esteves didn't like what he saw in Jennings' eyes and halted the bout.
"He's a great fighter," Jennings said. "He's the hardest puncher I've ever faced. He's very deceiving. You think you're out of his range, yet he strikes and connects. That really surprised me."
Cotto closed the fight by landing 49 of 70 power shots in the final two rounds, according to CompuBox.
The victory was a piece of good news after Cotto (33-1, 27 KOs) struggled with a lot of negativity in the days leading up to the fight.
The previous three weeks weren't easy for Cotto after Margarito was found to have had illegal knuckle pads in his hand wraps prior to his Jan. 24 fight with Shane Mosley in Los Angeles.
Margarito and his trainer, Javier Capetillo, subsequently had their licenses revoked by the California State Athletic Commission. And Cotto began to wonder if Margarito's wraps were on the up-and-up in their July 26 fight.
He was hounded by the media about the issue and became angry with Top Rank when promoter Bob Arum defended Margarito.
Cotto put that all behind him with a strong performance against Jennings, who had never been in with a top 10 opponent.
Jennings was clearly outclassed from the start and didn't land a punch of consequence. Cotto was primarily throwing jabs and hooks to the body which were slowly breaking Jennings down.
