Miguel Cotto overcame a nasty cut to retain his WBO welterweight title with a split decision victory over Joshua Clottey.
Clottey's WBO welterweight title challenge ends in split decision loss
Miguel Cotto retained his WBO welterweight title with a gruelling split decision victory over Joshua Clottey at Madison Square Garden on Saturday evening.
Judges Don Trella and John McKaie scored the bout for Cotto by margins of 116-111 and 115-112 respectively, while Tom Miller gave it to former IBF champion Clottey by 114-113.
Cotto put his Ghanaian opponent on the canvas in the first round with a stiff left but the challenger quickly recovered to shade a wild second as both men looked to land with hooks and uppercuts.
An accidental clash of heads in the third opened a cut above Cotto's left eyelid, which bled profusely throughout the remainder of the fight hampering the Puerto Rican's vision.
Clottey took advantage, landing regularly with the right hand as he forced the pace in the middle rounds, although he had a scare in the fifth when he slipped and appeared to hurt his knee, writhing around in pain before referee Arthur Mercante Jr urged him to regain his feet.
Cotto, who had looked to be tiring, found a renewed purpose in the ninth and proceeded to dominate the remainder of the contest.
He spent the the closing stages circling Clottey and moving in-and-out to land with quick flurries, a grandstand finish that ensured the decision went his way.
Plan
"I just tried to keep my plan and forget about the cut," said Cotto, who improved his record to 34-1 with the win.
"I tried to forget about the blood running into my eye and make my people proud."
Clottey, who is now 35-3, complained bitterly about the judges' decision in the immediate aftermath.
"I fought my heart out," he said. "I'm chasing the guy. He's running. I'm blocking the punches. So I don't know what I have to do to win the fight."
On the undercard, Ivan Calderon kept hold of his WBO light flyweight title after his title defence against Rodel Mayol ended in a draw due to an accidental headbutt.
Calderon, nicknamed 'Iron Boy', suffered a cut on his forehead from a clash of heads in the fourth and, after it worsened over the course of the next two rounds, the ringside doctor told the referee to halt proceedings.
