By Manuel Perez: I got to say this is probably the worse decision I have ever seen in my life. I feel really sorry for Joshua Clottey (35-3, 20 KOs), because he fought his heart out and appeared to beat WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (34-1, 27 KOs) by at least four rounds. Instead, Cotto, fighting on his home turf in Madison Square Garden, in New York, New York, got the nod by the referees with a close 12-round split decision.
Two of the scores were ridiculous because Clottey earned that fight by beating Cotto up, bloodying his face, getting the better of him in almost every exchange and taking the last four rounds of the fight when Cotto started running as usual. That was a terrible decision if you ask me.
The victory proved little other than how hard it is to beat Cotto when he’s fighting on his turf. Clottey savagely battered Cotto in the early rounds, beating him up and bloodying his face after a head butt. Cotto fouled Clottey on a couple of occasions by slamming him to the canvas and landing a rabbit punch to the back of Clottey’s head, neither of which were penalized for some reason.
You might as well have taken away the rules for the bout and made it a MMA fight, because Cotto should have been docked at least two points, if not three for another foul.
The final judges’ scores were 116-111, 115-112, both for Cotto, and 114-113 for Clottey. I scored it 116-112 for Clottey. There needs to be a rematch, that’s all I can say because this win, like the one over Shane Mosley, left a bad taste in my mouth.
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