On Saturday night, Miguel Cotto retained a welterweight title with a split decision over Joshua Clottey in an excellent back and forth battle that featured pure guts and determination from both fighters.
In the end Judge Don Trella scored the fight 116-111 for Cotto, John McHale had it 115-112 for Cotto and Tom Miller had it 114-113 for Clottey accounting for the three official ringside scores. From my living room, I scored the fight 116-111 for Cotto, agreeing with the margin Don Trella had Cotto winning the bout.
I saw what I saw. I didn’t think twice about my scorecard being too wide for Cotto. When the 116-111 scorecard for Cotto was announced first I thought to myself, “yeah, that’s about right.”
Then HBO analyst Max Kellerman commented on his vehement disapproval of the 116-11 verdict. Blow by blow announcer Jim Lampley agreed. Joshua Clottey thought he got robbed.
I looked at my scorecard and saw the notes I put in the margins next to each round. I stand by my 116-111 score.
However, I was curious. What did other observers think?
I was happy to see ESPN.com writer Dan Rafael’s scorecard reflected mine. Also, the associated Press had Cotto winning 116-112.
On the contrary, Ringtv.com’s Michael Rosenthal said that score “didn’t reflect reality”.
I disagree.
Here now is my scorecard, with an explanation of why I scored each round the way I did.
Round 1 – Cotto 10-8
Cotto scored a knockdown with just seconds remaining, earning him the 10-8 round.
Round 2 – Clottey 10-9
I thought Cotto was more active. However, I felt Clottey was landing the far better punches.
Round 3 – Cotto 10-9
Cotto busier and better, despite a cut over his left eye opening up due to a Clottey accidental head butt.
Round 4 – Cotto 10-9
Cotto far more active.
Round 5 – Clottey 10-9
Clottey was having a good round and hitting Cotto with some good shots. Unfortunately for him, the thing people will remember most about this round is Clottey being forced / slipping to the canvas and apparently hurting his knee.
Round 6 – Cotto 10-9
Huge round for Cotto. Clottey, perhaps less mobile due to hurting his knee the round prior, was backed in the corner for most of the round and Cotto unloaded a barrage of scoring blows.
Round 7 – Clottey 10-9
After such a good round for Cotto, the momentum would shift with Clottey having his biggest round of the fight until that point.
Round 8 – Clottey 10-9
Clottey was more active and landed a lot of right hands that Cotto couldn’t see coming due to the cut above his left eye. At the end of the round, Cotto landed some shots to Clottey’s head, some which were partially blocked, and Clottey dropped his hands and shook his head back at Cotto as if to say, “You can’t hurt me”.
Round 9 – Cotto 10-9
I think this round and round 10 are two rounds that could be the difference between a 116-111 scorecard and a 114-113 scorecard because they were awfully close. I gave the round to Cotto because I thought he boxed well and rebounded from a near disastrous 8th round. I couldn’t believe Clottey didn’t pressure him more and try to end the fight.
Round 10 – Cotto 10-9
A fairly uneventful round. Clottey’s lack of offense from the 9th round stayed with him in this round, though neither fighter did much in this frame. I gave the round to Cotto for landing a flush left hook that nailed Clottey towards the tail end of the round. It was the cleanest blow landed by either fighter in the round.
Round 11 – Cotto 10-9
Cotto was far busier.
Round 12 – Cotto 10-9
Cotto far busier. Clottey did nothing offensively.
So there’s my analysis of the scoring. If you got back and watch the fight while looking at my notes, I’m sure you can see why I scored the fight the way I did.
Of course the scoring is subjective. However, I stand by Cotto winning 116-111.
