Puerto Rico's Miguel Cotto has retained the World Boxing Organisation welterweight title with a split decision over Joshua Clottey of Ghana at Madison Square Garden. Don Trella and John McKaie scored the fight for Cotto, 116–111 and 115–112 respectively. Tom Miller scored it 114–113 in favour of the former IBF champion Clottey.
The Ghanaian, 35–3 (20 KOs), complained bitterly about the decision. "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."
At times it appeared the contest would not last long enough for the judges to get involved. Cotto knocked down Clottey with a stiff left at the end of the first round but the challenger got up in time, as both men sought to land left hooks and uppercuts to the body and head.
At the end of the third round a clash of heads opened a gash on Cotto's left eye which bled profusely throughout, blocking the Puerto Rican's vision and leaving him vulnerable to Clottey's powerful right.
Clottey slipped and fell during a clinch in the fifth and appeared to hurt a knee. He writhed in apparent pain before the referee urged him to his feet. Cotto, 34-1 (27 KOs), dominated the sixth, pinning Clottey in a corner for over half the round, but the Ghanaian rallied to dominate the next three rounds, landing his right against the apparently tiring champion. By the end of the ninth, however, Cotto seemed to have regained his confidence.
He appeared to shade the tenth on the strength of a pair of powerful left hooks, and spent the final two rounds circling his challenger, firing quick flurries and then moving away before Clottey could respond. "I just tried to keep my plan and forget about the cut," said Cotto. "I just tried to forget about the blood running into my eye and make my people proud."
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