Cotto blows out Sosa in four.
J.C. Chavez Jr. wins U.S. pro debut.
Top Rank / HBO result from the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, NV, By Francisco Villasenor @ ringside. / All Photo: German Villasenor.
In the main event, the former WBC Super Bantamweight and WBC Featherweight champion Erik ''El Terrible'' Morales (46-1,34 KO) added his third crown in three weight classes, tying the legendary J.C. Chavez feat in the Mexican fighters ranks to do so by outpointing a very tough and courageous Jesus Chavez (40-3 ,28 KO) in a very spirited twelve round war.
Round one started against the odds, which had most people thinking Morales would dominate and stop the aggressive Chavez in the mid to late rounds, something which was shown to be wrong as Chavez took it to Morales early, landing sharp, jolting jabs anda one two combination which staggered and rocked Morales against the ropes.
The stronger Morales due to the weight gain was able to handle the power shots coming from Chavez setting him up in a trap in the second round sending the defending champion to the seat of his pants with a clean right hand uppercut in the second round.
Things looked bleak for Chavez when he was sent to the canvas once more with a hard combination by Morales in the same round.
Chavez came back strong toward the end of the round landing a nice hard right overhand right which stopped Morales in his tracks. That would be the factor ''x'' in the fight, as Chavez claimed after the fight, that he re-injured his right shoulder in that round, and as the rounds progressed, the became more reliant on using his left hand, jabbing away, landing left hooks to the body and upstairs, as he could barely keep his rigt hand up into the later rounds.
Both men suffered injuries above their eyes, as Morales was cut in round four and Chavez in round six, Morales well ahead on points, did not go for the end, not knowing somehow (evident as Chavez hardly used his right from the eight round on) that his opponent had injured his right arm. The valiant Chavez became a one handed fighter for the last four round, as he threw the right hand but a few times making a brief last stand in the final round. His left hand speed, jabs and left hooks has to be commended as he kept Morales in spots at bay throughout the fight despite Morales superior arm reach.
Although Morales did land some heavy bombs, Chavez was able to withstand the blows well on route to a 118-108, 117-109 and 1150-112 in the judges cards.
Chavez did not attend the post conference as he was instructed to go directly to the hospital and get his arm checked out. He did however say in the post interview he would be back when his shoulder healed and would ask for a rematch.
Morales indicated he did not know nothing about the shoulder injury to his opponent, and was looking forward to better and bigger things ahead. Bob Arum, Morales promoted indicated his next fight would be a unification match-up with the Salvadorian IBF Super featherweight champion Carlos Hernandez in L.A at what most likely end up being the Home Depot Training Center in Carson, CA. sometime in the summer.
That fight will be a blockbuster due to the heavy Mexican population in Los Angeles coupled with the big Salvadorian community which resideds there as well.
Cotto blows out Sosa in four.
Miguel Cotto (20-0,17 KO's) defended his WBC International super lightweight title by dropping the very capable Victoriano Sosa (36-4-2,28 KO's) in the fourth round of a 12 round pacted fight.
Sosa was thought to be a very stern test to the #1 ranked super lightweight contender, something which the cool headed Cotto showed he was more than ready to tackle on..and defeat as he did what Mayweather JR. and Paul Spadafora could not, stop the rugged Colombian in their respective fights.
Sosa managed to alnd a couple good shots which hurt Cotto in the early rounds, Cotto adjusted quickly with his tight guard, straight hard shots kept getting within range until his power came forth in the fourth round as the Puerto Rican fighter dropped Sosa three times, the final time a left hook to the pit of his oppoonents stomahc which sent the already bloodied Sosa (from the mouth) down for the count at 2:51 of the round with the ref waving the contest off immediately after the third fall.
Chavez JR. decisions Fagan in four.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.(5-0-1 ko) , the older son of the ''lion of culiacan'' Chavez Sr. made his pro U.S debut by dropping a game, but outgunned OISIN FAGAN, DUBLIN, IRELAND (4-2,3 KO) with a beautiful right hand upstairs in the third round, the tough Fagan fought back bravely doing some good work from the outside on route to a four round unanimous decision loss.
Chavez fights exactly the same as his father, although he relies on his right hand more for power shots than the fabled left hook which carried his father to many victories in a 100 plus fight career so far.
On the undercard, the superlightweight FELIX MALESPIN (3-1,3 KO) faced WES FERGUSON (3-0,1 KO) in a four round bout.
Ferguson dropped MALESPIN in the first and the third round with the ref calling the bout off at 1:57 of the round.
Thompson knocked out in upset.
The heavily hyped super welterweight Anthony Thompson (15-1,12KO's) was surprisingly stopped by the journeyman Grady Brewer (16-8, 11KO's) as Brewer landed an uppercut bomb sending Thompson down and out in the third round of their bout.
Aguilar - Augustus draw.
In what was seen as something of a bad decision Alvaro Aguilar (16-0-1, 14 KO's) remained undefeated as his Super lightweight eight rounder was declared a draw vs the hard luck Emmanuel Augustus ( 27-23-6, 13 KO's ), who many at ringside thought deserved the nod.
Estupinian stops Humphrey in four.
The undefeated welterweight Nelson Estupinan (14-0-9 ko's) coming off a second round KO over the former two time WBO Superlightweight champion Carlos Gonzales knocked out Henry Humphrey (7-2-6 ko's) in the fourth round of their fight.
Quintero outpointed Gonzales in six.
The super featherweight Arturo Quintero defeated Adam Gonzalez in a six scrappy bout.
2003 boxingladiators.com