On Saturday night at Madison Square Garden it was a night of firsts.
First up in the much awaited WBC Middleweight World Title bout Miguel Cotto became the first Puerto Rican fighter to win world championships in four weight divisions, after he stopped the seemingly invincible Sergio Martinez. Martinez who had only lost just twice with 51 wins and 2 draws was not allowed by his team to get off stool when the bell rang for the 10th round.
Astute Coach Freddie Roach had encouraged Cotto to revert to his proven strengths, namely his trademark powerful body punching style, and worked on improving his footwork and defence. It paid dividends with a victory that the boxer described as his career best performance.
His victory also meant that he became the first fighter to don the new sixth generation of WBC Championship belt.
The latest edition of the famous green and gold WBC belt remembers long term President Jose Sulaiman who passed away late last year, as well as The King of Boxing Muhammad Ali. It also features the pictures of two of the WBC’s greatest champions in the each of the respective weight divisions, voted on by the fans. Which in the Middle weight division was Marvellous Marvin Hagler and Carlos Monzon.
