Cotto vs Clottey

Cotto scored a nice TKO win two fights later over unbeaten Carlos Maussa, who later went on to win a championship. After registering wins over Victoriano Sosa and Lovemore N'Dou, Cotto devastated a fellow unbeaten, Kelson Pinto, to win the vacant WBO 140-pound title on a sixth-round TKO in September of '04. Then the trouble started. In his second defense, against DeMarcus Corley, never looked upon as a puncher, he was staggered, which set off an alarm about his chin. Cotto was considered fortunate to be able to come back and stop Corley in the fifth round. Cotto stopped Ricardo Torres in seven rounds subsequent to that, but not before Cotto was put into trouble by the crisp-punching Torres.

Cotto was considered fortunate to be able to come back and stop Corley in the fifth round. Cotto stopped Ricardo Torres in seven rounds subsequent to that, but not before Cotto was put into trouble by the crisp-punching Torres. Later, Cotto made the move up to the welterweight division and he secured the WBA title with a stoppage of Carlos Quintana in December 2006. He took to the weight well, making four successful title defenses, stopping Zab Judah and scoring a decision over Shane Mosley along the way. Cotto's balloon was burst last July when he defended against Antonio Margarito. He abandoned his aggressive style and became a boxer/runner, scoring points against Margarito but getting weaker as the fight progressed. When Margarito finally caught up to him in the eleventh round, it was over. Cotto's last fight was for the vacant WBO 147-pound title, and he stopped an extremely outgunned Michael Jennings in five rounds.

Clottey continued to toil in obscurity, even after coming to the U.S., when he made his debut on American soil with a sixth-round TKO of Jeffrey Hill. His 12-round majority decision over Richard Gutierrez earned him the IBF Inter-Continental title in July 2006, and also put him in line to fight one of the welterweight champions. Clottey eventually went into the ring with Antonio Margarito and lost a decision that was relatively decisive. Clottey got a big break four months later. When Diego Corrales decided to move from lightweight to welterweight, Clottey was selected as the opponent. The result for Clottey was triumphant, as he completely dominated Corrales, flooring him in the eighth and tenth rounds and winning a one-sided decision. Clottey captured the vacant IBF welterweight title in his last fight, a technical decision over Zab Judah.