Puerto Rican boxer Miguel Cotto said goodbye to the ring on Saturday night after a brilliant 17-year career, but he did so with a loss to Yemeni-born American Saddam Ali, who snatched the junior middleweight crown from the World Organization of Boxing (OMB).
Cotto, who came as a huge favorite to the fight, the last of his brilliant 15-year professional career, was not even the shadow of his best form, losing by way of a unanimous decision in 12 rounds.
The judges were very clear who was the winner by presenting cards of 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113, respectively, all favorable to Ali, who resides in New York.
In his 10th bout at Madison Square Garden, Cotto said goodbye to the ring in front of 12,391 fans, mostly from his country.
Cotto, 37, ends his career 41-6 with 33 knockouts.
The Puerto Rican fighter represented his country at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and won six world titles, the last one being the 154-pound vacancy on August 26 against Japan’s Yoshihiro Kamegai.
Cotto is the only Puerto Rican fighter to be crowned in the junior welterweight, welterweight, junior middleweight and middleweight divisions.
Ali, 29, also a 2008 US Olympic boxer, put his mark at 26-1 with 14 knockouts.
Ali looked strong and fast against Cotto, leaving him 8-2 at Madison Square Garden.
The stats left Ali landing 139 of 647 punches (21 percent) and Cotto 163 of 536 (30 percent), but Ali was superior in the second half of the fight, after Cotto said he hurt his left bicep. in the seventh round.
The battle against Ali marked the end of the career of one of the most important champions in the history of the boxing Puerto Rican.
However, the future in the boxing in the ring for Cotto, he doesn’t seem to have the last page of his book written yet.
To the insinuations of his coach, Freddie Roach, who has insisted that his pupil remains at the highest level and has defended a second fight with Saúl «Canelo» Álvarez or go against Gennady Golovkin, now the various readings are added that are born from the weight marked last Friday on the scale by the Puerto Rican.
Cotto surprised everyone by stepping over the scale at 151 pounds, two short of Ali who is a natural welterweight and came to weigh-in at 153.
Speculation and rumors soared immediately, among which stands out the persistent possibility that in 2018 a millionaire fight against Juan Manuel Márquez could finally take place.
Battle that at the time could not take place due to the differences in the weight to be agreed, but that in 2018 may be the ideal moment despite having lost with Ali.