Manny Pacquiao Beat Miguel Cotto in 12 Round TKO
By George Hernandez
An action packed weekend started Saturday with UFC 104 “Couture vs. Vera” and a boxing match between pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao facing hard hitting Miguel Cotto. Sunday was an exciting day of amateur boxing with the Jerry Ortiz Boxing Gym hosting their annual show in El Monte.
UFC 105 “Couture vs. Vera”:
Randy Couture (17-10) proved he still has it at the young age of 46 years old with a unanimous decision victory over Brandon Vera (11-4). Vera came out hard with a head kick and punches but Couture controlled the fight with some dirty boxing in the clinch. Couture had trouble getting Vera down and finally took him down in the third round. Vera hurt Couture early in the fight with a kick to the body but couldn’t finish Couture off. All three judges saw it in Couture’s favor 29-28.
Dan Hardy (23-6) showed that he is worthy of a title shot with a three round beating of Mike Swick (14-3). Swick tried to use his speed early in the fight but the power of Hardy slowed Swick down rocking him a number of times through out the fight. Swick never was in control and never had Hardy in trouble. Two judges saw it 30-27 and one judge scored 29-28.
Michael Bisping (19-2) came back from his devastating loss to Dan Henderson to finish dangerous middleweight Denis Kang (32-12-1) in the second round. The first round belonged to Kang hurting Bisping early in the fight with a right hand and dropping him. In the second round when Bisping took Kang to the mat and started raining down elbow and punches that cut Kang’s nose and hurt him. Bisping was able to finish the fight with a series of unanswered blows.
Pacquiao vs. Cotto:
Manny Pacquiao (50-3-2) put a beat down on Top 10 boxer Miguel Cotto (34-2) with a 12th round TKO win. Cotto landed hard power punches but it wasn’t enough for the speed of Pacquiao. Pacquiao dropped Cotto once in the third and fourth round. After the fourth round knockdown the offense of Cotto slowed down and Pacquiao picked it up and started taking it to Cotto. The referee was forced to stop the fight early in the 12th round. Pacquiao took Cotto’s WBO championship.
Jerry Ortiz Boxing:
Martin Huaracha, Angel Salas (South El Monte) and Joseph Muasau were victorious for the Jerry Ortiz Gym. Huarcha came on strong in the second and third rounds after getting a controversial eight count in the first round. Huarcha landed uppercuts that rocked Bryan Rico who was fighting out of Century Station and was able to come out with a decision victory.
Salas showed off some defense taking the least amount of damage in any fight, and taking it to Jonathan Minero (Fillmore Gym). The referee was forced to stop the fight in the middle of the second round after Salas landed a flurry of punches.
The main event saw Muasau face fellow heavyweight Kenny Marron (Fortune Gym) in a hard hitting bout. The two fighters almost broke down the ring when the top rope snapped. Muasau rocked Marron early and often and took an easy unanimous decision victory.
Leave a Reply