If he keeps to his word, Miguel Cotto’s career is in the books. Puerto Rico’s only four division world titleholder did not go out on top against former US Olympian Sadam Ali, however. We have a new WBO junior middleweight titleholder and rightfully so. Regardless of the outcome here, thank you for the memories, Miguel Angel Cotto.
Sadam Ali (25-2, 14 KOs) came out with a lot of confidence and energy in the first round. He fired sharp shots early and showed footwork that troubled the retiring Puerto Rican legend. Ali also seemed to be the faster fighter. Given that he is eight years younger, that makes sense. For a round at least, Sadam Ali looked like he might be much more in this fight than many critics, myself included, expected.
Things got even worse for Miguel Cotto (42-5, 34 KOs) at the start of the second round. A crisp right hand had the Puerto Rican on roller skates. He seemed all sorts of hurt and Ali pressed briefly, but he didn’t push the issue quite as much as he could have. Briefly it looked like Cotto scored a retaliatory knockdown to steal momentum back, but on replay it was correctly ruled a slip.
Cotto got his legs back under him in the third, but he still struggled to get more than one shot off at a time while Sadam “World Kid” Ali moved athletically around the ring and ripped off combinations. Unfortunately for Miguel, the stable legs were short lived as Ali ripped him and briefly wobbled him once more to begin the fourth. Again Cotto was a little buzzed to end the round too. At this point, things were not looking good for the all time great in his final fight.
Ali kept moving well in the fifth, but he didn’t land as much. Miguel Cotto also got in a pair of excellent body shots at the end of the round that seemed to bother Sadam, though he also spent the bulk of the round plodding forward ineffectively. This was a difficult round to score.
The sixth round was the first one in which Miguel Cotto began to look like his old self. This was mainly because Ali seemed to really start to tire, but Cotto got in some great work with both hands regardless. He wobbled his challenger for the first time in this round with a solid right hand upstairs. Cotto kept up some of this success in the seventh as well with the round roaring behind him, but Ali boxed better in the frame too. I think Cotto nicked it though.
For the first time in a few rounds, Sadam Ali clearly bothered Cotto with a left in the eighth. It was a brief moment, but a telling one in so much as illustrating that the New York City native was not going to go away. At this point it looked like if Sadam Ali would be willing to take more risks that he might be able to pull off something special here, but he insisted on sticking to his back foot, counter punching style. He won the ninth with it though, partially because the Puerto Rican took a breather.
Left hooks again hurt Cotto in the tenth. He really just did not look good in the last few rounds of his career. When the second left hook landed, there was a sense of dejection in the body language of the star in his last fight. He just didn’t try super hard to retaliate. Sadam Ali, motivated by harsh words for his lack of finishing instinct in the corner, came out immediately looking for a finish in the eleventh. Cotto was not consistently fighting back at this point and looked quite slow.
Unfortunately given that this was likely his last fight, Miguel Cotto couldn’t turn it around in the twelfth. Ali didn’t press for the finish like a fighter worried about getting a decision from a star should have given boxing history, but he did outbox his opponent and seemingly win the important final frame.
I scored this 116-112 Sadam Ali. HBO’s Harold Lederman scored it 115-113 for the same man. Scores came back 116-112 and 115-113 twice for Sadam Ali, making him the new WBO junior middleweight titleholder. Honestly, I was a bit surprised Ali was given the decision that he had earned given the history of boxing scoring stupidity, but this was really well scored. It was also a real fun fight to watch.
Post fight Miguel Cotto pointed out that his left bicep was clearly injured. Visually this was quite obvious and probably contributed to his weird body language late. Cotto indicated that the injury happened in the seventh. This explains his late collapse after seeming to right the ship in the middle rounds after a poor start.
Miguel Cotto, you’ve always been a joy in this sport. Thank you for the memories. This does nothing to hurt your legacy.
