Margarito Stoppage Ends Cotto Run and Hands Wba Belt to Mexican

The Mexican Antonio Margarito ended Miguel Cotto's unbeaten record in dramatic fashion to claim the WBA welterweight championship with an 11th-round stoppage at the MGM Grand Garden Arena last night.

Margarito floored a bloodied Cotto twice in the 11th, forcing the Puerto Rican's corner to throw in the towel two minutes and five seconds into the round.Two judges had Margarito ahead by a score of 96-94 at the time of the stoppage, while the third scored the fight even.

Cotto held a 280-267 advantage in punches landed but Margarito, known for his granite chin, never seemed in serious trouble. He now becomes a three-time welterweight champion, having vacated the IBF welterweight title when refusing to make a mandatory defence against the organisation's top contender, Joshua Clottey, in order to take on Cotto.

"I trusted my preparation coming into the fight," Margarito said. "Obviously Cotto is a great fighter but slowly the tornado rumbled and I told my corner I was going to knock him out - and I did."

Cotto out-boxed his challenger during the early rounds, frequently landing a series of punches before dancing away from danger. However Margarito, four inches taller than Cotto, continued to stalk his target and eventually began to wear down the smaller man by trapping him against the ropes.

In the seventh round a pair of Margarito uppercuts found their mark and rattled Cotto, who began to bleed from his nose. Margarito continued to pursue the champion and inflicted further damage towards the end of the 10th round, sending Cotto back to his corner clearly exhausted.

And the Mexican picked up where he left off at the start of the 11th, unleashing a flurry of punches with Cotto against the ropes before landing a number of further jarring blows on his opponent, who began to bleed profusely.

Margarito finally forced Cotto to his knee after a hard combination and then continued to unload as his opponent staggered around the ring, finally going down a second time as the white flag was raised.

On the undercard, Colombian Cesar Canchila outpointed Giovanni Segura to claim the WBA interim light flyweight championship.