The opening encounter was a four round junior welterweight clash between Christian Martinez (2-0, 2 KO’s) of New York City and Gabriel Morris of Toledo, Ohio (1-5-1). Referee David Fiields stopped the slaughter after 58 seconds of the first round after Morris had been knocked to the campus three times. The three knockdown rule gave Martinez had second TKO win, both at B.B. King’s.

Two Latino featherweights faced one another in the second bout. Luis”Orlanditio” DelValle (8-0, 6 KO’s) of Bayamon, Puerto Rico claimed the win over Noe Lopez, Jr. (5-5, 4 KO’s), a native of Sonora, Mexico after the end of the second round. The ringside physician, after checking on an of Santiago, Cuba. injury to the left hand of Lopez, advised the referee to halt the bout. Overjoyed fans chanted “Tito” after the close of action, Del Valle like  Martinez was very comfortable in the venue as it was his fourth pro fight at King’s.

Another local favorite Gabriel Bracero (8-0) of Sunset Park, Brooklyn followed the pattern of his past pro fights by gaining a victory but not stopping his opponent. The 28 year-old never fights far from home. All of his bouts took place in New York City. Bracero’s opponent, Carl McNickels (6-3, 6 KO’s) does not fear a challenge. He traveled to Manhattan from Gulfport, MS to face a New York City fighter, and has fought an undefeated boxer in his last four bouts. McNickels dropped to the canvas in the third, but opened a cut over the left eye of Bracero. The votes of the judges at the end of the six-round junior welterweight bout was one-sided, 60-53, 59-54, and 58-55.

Heavyweight Tor Hamer (10-0, 8 KO’s) is making an effort to move into the rankings and represented the United States in a weight class that had been dominated by Americans in the past. The Penn State graduate had no difficulty with Mazur Ali (6-5, 3 KO’s) of Egypt. After receiving a body shor to the stomach, Ali spit out his mouthpiece and leaned over the ropes. The referee stopped the bout at 1:38 of the opening round. Mazur was a late replacement for Dominic Jenkins. At the pre-fight physical examination, a fracture was discovered in Jenkins’s skull, and he was forbidden to box. Promoter DiBella was incensed by Ali’s ring demeanor. He said to reporters, “If you don’t want to fight, don’t come.”

The headline bout featured one of the most heralded amateur boxers in recent years, Guillermo “El Chacal” Rigondeaux (4-0, 3 KO’s) of Cuba. The 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games gold medalist for Cuba defected to the United States in the early part of 2009, after being taken off the Cuban National team prior to the 2008 Olympics. He has since begun a professional boxing career. The 29 year-old Cuban like Hamer was fighting a last minute replacement, Lante Addy (6-5-1, 4 KO’s) of Ghana. Addy’s record may look better than it is because his last five bouts were fought in the U.S. In all five of the bouts (four losses and a draw) his opponents were undefeated. Each of those five bouts, including the one on Wednesday went the distance. Rigondeaux floored Addy in the first round. Neither was again in trouble in a lackluster and one-sided encounter. The crowd jeered the lack of action in rounds two and four. Both were in excellent condition to last eight rounds. The score of the judges were: 79-72, 80-71, and 80-71.

Pacquiao out punched Cotto from the fourth round on, and like he has done with previous opponents he used speed and power to his advantage/. Pacquiao also becomes the first seven-time division champion and up next is a potential lucrative pay day with the undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr.

“The strategy of the fight was to take time and not hurry,” said Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38KO’s). “We were very careful in the early rounds,” he said as Cotto tried all he could to use his devastating left hook that had little impact on Pacquiao.  “Im trying to test his power in the early rounds that’s why I wanted to get hit in the body and the head,” he said.

Pacquiao also used good strategy against Cotto that his trainer Freddie Roach preached in their intense training camp. “I was looking for a knockdown shot, he said. “That’s why I didn’t throw a lot of punches. That’s why in the last seconds, I threw the good right hook.   I kept pressuring him and was very careful of his counter.”

But the counter never seemed to work for Cotto. After the fourth round it was all Pacquiao who knocked down Cotto with a left hook in the third round, and he knocked Cotto down again late in the fourth round as Cotto advanced to him.

The first four rounds reminded many about the Hagler-Hearns wars of the 1980’s with Cotto and Pacquiao trading and taking some punches, but Pacquiao was able to do more and took command of the fight after that. It was all Pacquiao, who led on all of the judges scorecards as it appeared Cotto took the first round and he barely won the fifth with some good counter punching.

“We were trying our best to try and knock him out because that is what my trainer said,” commented Pacquiao. But Cotto with a swollen face and blood flowing form his nose, with cuts showed his pride and determination by refusing to quit. His trainer Joe Santiago thought about stopping the fight earlier but saw that his fighter had the ability to continue,

“I thought in the 11th round they were going to stop the fight.  I was surprised,” said Pacquiao about the fight not being stopped sooner. Pacquiao also said that he would not consider moving up in weight class again. “154 is too big for me,” he said.

On a possible fight with Mayweather, a name the sold old crowd at the MGM Arena started to chant, Pacquiao said “My job is to fight in the ring and that depends on my promoter Arum (Bob) to negotiate that fight.”It was a hard fight. Cotto is a tough opponent,” he said.,

A battered and defeated Cotto (34-2 27 Ko’s) will take some time and think about his options. His last fight back in June he barley defeated Joshua Clottey at Madison Square Garden in New York City. “You don’t have to tell me anything,” he said, “Its part of my job. I’m pretty proud of what I have done in the ring.”

He added, “ I did not protect myself from the punches   I fought everybody  Miguel Cotto came to fight all the big names and Manny is one of the best of all time.”   And about his trainer stopping the fight earlier, Cotto said, “I told Joe to stop the right when the round was over,,” he commented about the 11^th,” but I think better it was my decision.   I will continue fighting.”

Now fight fans await the negotiations. Roach wants Mayweather and Arum will have a rough time at the table because Mayweather is an adversary. “I said we were going to break him down and we did,” said Roach about Cotto.” Manny put pressure down and early in the fight he was assessing Miguel’s power.”

MORE TO COME     e-mail Rich Mancuso Ring786@aol.com

Though one question was answered, as it seems Cotto, (34-1, 27KO’s) has overcome his loss to Antonio Margarito last year that left him battered after 11 rounds/ It was a rough fight from the beginning, as expected, with the only knockdown coming from a Cotto punch late in the first round.

Clottey, (35,3, 21 KO’s) who gave Cotto the cut in the third round, attributed to a head butt, may have indeed been the winner if it weren’t for that 10-8 first round that went to Cotto  that caused Clottey to briefly hit the canvas.. And the final two rounds went to Cotto with one judge at ringside having 114-113 for Clottey, two others 115-112 and 116-111 for Cotto. This writer gave the fight to Clottey 114-113.

After the nasty cut continued to pour blood from the left eye, Cotto had to resort to another strategy. He continued to punch well, landing 723 punches to the 622 of Clottey, but the challenger in the ropes many times was able to take the punishment and land a few power punches of his own.

It was the onslaught of punches from Cotto that continued to show how resilient of a fighter Clottey is.  The native of Ghana, now residing in the Bronx, also had to overcome a pro Cotto crowd at the Garden. Most of the 17,734 were Cotto fans waving the Puerto Rican flag, screaming for their fighter throughout the fight, though this was the first time a Cotto fight at the Garden failed to sell out.

And if Top Rank promoter Bob Arum hadn’t consoled Clottey immediately after the fight, then perhaps this could have been the last fight for Clottey. Disappointed and annoyed about the final decision Clottey immediately said, “That’s it, I’m done with boxing, I can’t take it anymore.”

To which Arum, who promotes both Clottey and Cotto, embraced Clottey and said to him, “a magnificent fight and you have to continue.”  By all means Clottey deserves a return bout, and after listening to Arum and getting over the disappointment, Cottey asked for one.

But Clottey may have to wait as Arum is looking to put Cotto in the ring next, possibly with Manny Pacquio considered the best pound-for pound fighter at 147.  Said Clottey, “They robbed me. He was running and I was chasing. I threw the hardest punches.”

Hand it to Cotto though, because after the cut he fought like a champion.. Even in the ninth and tenth rounds the cut got worse, of which Cotto said, “The cut made me fight harder but I felt like that I was winning all the way”

But there were some tactics from Cotto that haven’t been seen. Perhaps his new trainer, Joe Santiago, who replaced Cotto’s uncle Evangelista, was a reason why Cotto in the fifth round was a different fighter. In the corner with Clottey he spun his opponent around and Clottey, fell face first on the canvas.

The result was some time for Clottey to recover after hurting his right knee but he was able to recover by continuing to fight at his pace. “The referee had to do something,” said Clottey who also complained that Cotto used low blows many times, also Cotto hit Clottey in the back of his head late in the fight which also got no warning from referee Arthur Mercante Jr.

Now Arum has to look at the future for Cotto.  The Pacquiao fight is what he would like to do and Cotto will evaluate the options.  There is also a possible return bout with WBA welterweight champion Shane Mosley, and Cotto, from what has been often heard would like that chance again against Margarito..

But Margarito is still serving a one-year suspension for fighting with tainted hand wraps under his gloves which now appears to have been responsible for Cotto’s only loss. “I will see what the company says,” was the response from Cotto about getting Margarito again.

Clottey deserves a return bout and it may have to wait, and his courageous effort showed he is indeed one of the top three welterweights.  As for Cotto,: who admitted that Clottey was a tough opponent, it is time for some rest and maybe some readjustments with his new trainer and without cut man Miguel Diaz who he also dismissed.

“We made a few mistakes,” admitted Cotto who may still have to prove that he is in the company of other great Puerto Rican boxing champions such as Wilfredo Gomez and Felix Trinidad.  “Everybody will get better,” he said.

CALDERON GETS A DRAW: The co-feature on the Garden card saw junior flyweight champion Ivan Calderon (32-0-1, 6KO’s) of Guaynabo Puerto Rico earn a split decision of his 12-round fight that went to the judges scorecard after six rounds because of an accidental head butt. Challenger and opponent Rodel Mayol (25-3, 1, 19KO’s) of the Philippines caused the nasty cut on the forehead of Calderon.

As a result of the fight being halted after six rounds the technical rule of the championship bout becomes a decision for the judges. One judge had it even, one for Calderon and the other to Mayol and as a result Calderon retained his title.

“I was coming in and he would go down low and that’s when I got hit in the head,” said Calderon/. The butt came in the fourth round and another one moments later. It was the fourth defense of his title.

e-mail Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com