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Cotto followed up his victory over Urkal by facing Zab Judah. Here is the original recap of that match.

HBO Boxing After Dark Recap

June 9, 2007

Madison Square Garden-New York City, New York

1.  WBA Welterweight (147 pounds) 12 Round Championship Match:

Miguel Cotto (29-0, 24 KO's, 146.5 pounds) (c) vs. Zab Judah (34-4 (1 NC), 25 KO's, 145 pounds)

Cotto is fighting in New York City on the weekend of the Puerto Rican Day parade for the third consecutive year.  With a victory, he is contractually obligated to face Antonio Margarito next, assuming Margarito is victorious in his next match in July.  Cotto is making his second title defense.  His first was a TKO victory in Puerto Rico, that was somewhat controversial in the way it was stopped by his opponents corner. Cotto's opponent in that match, Oktay Urkal, was still very competitive in the match, but after the referee deducted Urkal a second point on a questionable headbutt call, Urkal's corner threw in the towel.  The Puerto Rican commission was using "open scoring" for that match, which had the official judges' scores announced after rounds 4 and 8.  Urkal was therefore, known to be way behind on the cards, but was still very much alive for a come from behind knockout.  His corner frustrated with the referee and the scoring, though, decided to call it a night early.  That let Cotto escape with the a title he had a real chance of losing had the match been allowed more time.

Judah is from Brooklyn and despite being the hometown guy will not be the crowd favorite in the arena.  Should Judah win this match and the title, Cotto is contractually entitled to an automatic rematch.  Judah has had only 1:12 of official in ring action since, he was suspended for a year after his involvement in a midmatch in ring mini-riot during a April 8, 2006 match with Floyd Mayweather, Jr.  The Brooklyn native's return match was stopped prematurely by a cut his opponent received, that was ruled to have been caused by an elbow.  On replay it appeared the cut was caused by a punch, but an elbow may have made contact with the head, as well.  Had a punch caused the cut, Judah would have a TKO victory.  If the cut was because of an elbow, it is treated like an accidental headbutt.  Therefore, the match was ruled a no contest, since it occurred prior to the end of round 4.  The match meant to showcase Judah on ESPN 2 with Cotto in studio to announce this match, ended controversial without a Judah win, but they made this match anyway.  It was a good enough showing by Judah to convince people to pay or this event.  The controversy was helped by the fact it was impossible to be definitively sure if it was an elbow or a punch, and the initial call by the referee was that it was an elbow.  Like in the NFL, without indisputable visual evidence the referee's call stands, and even after repeated video viewings that went on for three days after the match by the state athletic commission the evidence was still unclear.   That meant the initial call stood and people on both sides believed what they wanted to believe.

Cotto boxes out of the orthodox stance.  Judah boxes in the southpaw stance.  Cotto at 26-years-old is 3 years younger then the 29-year-old Judah.  The challenger has a slight height advantage standing at 5' 7.75" tall, while Cotto stands only 5' 7" tall.  The reach measures from the armpit to the end of the fist, has Cotto with a 1.5" advantage, a reach of 23.5" long, to Judah's 22" long.  The unofficial weights before the match are unavailable in the state of New York, but visually Cotto appears at least 15 pounds heavier then Judah at match time.

The rules in effect for this contest are the unified rules of boxing: No 3 knockdown rule.  Only the referee can stop the match.  In case of a cut cause by an accidental clash of heads (or elbow) that causes the match to be prematurely stopped, the match will be decided by the scorecards after 4 rounds, any earlier and it will be a no contest.  A boxer cannot be saved from a knockout by the bell in any round, including round 12.

Cotto is 2 to 1 favorite in this match.  At 1:17 of round, a low left hand from Cotto, to the man region of Judah, sends the challenger crumpling to the mat.  Cotto is warned and Judah is rolling around on the canvas.  The Brooklyn native has five minutes to recover, but uses only one of them.  The challenger spent the last minute of the round mostly in retreat, instead of aggressively coming forward, which he was doing prior to being hit low.  Judah is still breathing very heavily and grabbing himself, when he heads to his corner at the end of the round.  He clearly did not take enough time to recover.  All of the official judges scored the round for Judah 10-9.  Before round 2, Cotto's corner instructs him to go to the body of Judah.

The champion is mercilessly going to Judah's body with right hooks, and the challenger looks uncomfortable.  All of the official scores had Cotto winning round 2, 10-9.  With 2:25 to go in round 3, Cotto hits Judah behind the back and after some complaining from Judah, Cotto receives a warning.  The referee is being very relaxed in this match.  With 1:52 to go in round 3, this time it is a Cotto right that slams into Judah's groin, and sends the challenger crashing to the canvas.  Judah is in near tears on the ground and Cotto is deducted a point.  Slowly, Judah makes his way to his feet.  When the referee asks if Judah would like more time to recover, the local boxer's voice is substantially higher when responding.  Somehow, in all of this Cotto has blood on his chest.  Judah, again takes too little time to recover and the match is restarted after only a minute or two pause.  The blood on Cotto's chest appears to be coming from the champion's lower lip.  All three official scorers have round 3 even, 9-9.

To open round 4, Judah has a cut outside his right eye.  All three official judges score round 4 for Cotto, 10-9.  Judah, in his corner after the round is complaining that Cotto is cheating.  The cut near Judah's right eye is above the eye, and wide enough that his corner will not be able to close it.  Replay shows the cut is the result of an accidental clash of heads.  After 4 rounds all of the judges have Cotto ahead on the cards, 38-37.  With less then 15 seconds to go in round 5, Judah is beginning to bleed from his nose.  All of the official scorers give round 5 to Cotto, 10-9.  Judah is mentally losing this match, with concerns about the Cotto low blows and other infractions, rather then focusing on what he needs to do to win.  Cotto is also cut above his right eye, during round 6.  It is likely the result of a Judah headbutt.  Cotto wins round 6 on all of the official scorecards, 10-9.  After 6 rounds, Cotto is ahead on all three judges official scorecards, 58-55.

Round 7 is Judah's best since round 1 and he wins it on all of the official scorecards, 10-9.  Cotto still out landed Judah on power shots in round 7, 22 to 18, despite losing the round.  Judah ate punches for almost the entirety, of round 8.  The official scorers all gave round 8 to Cotto, 10-9.  In round 8, Judah landed 8 punches, and Cotto landed 38 punches.  Of the punches landed in round 8 for Cotto, 31 were power punches.  Judah's cornerman and father, Yoel Judah, for the last several rounds has been begging his son to throw more punches.  Judah only attempted 32 punches in the round 8.  With 1:10 to go in round 9, Judah trapped in a corner and knowing Cotto was about to unleash a flurry of punches, dropped to a knee.  At the referee's count of 8, Judah rises, and the match is continued, with 53 seconds to go in round 9.  Cotto has been switching stances from orthodox to southpaw on Judah in the last several rounds with one common theme, it is effective.  Judah mounts a mini-rally to survive the round, but his goal now seems to be to finish the night standing.  All of the official scorecards have Cotto winning round 9, 10-8.  After 9 rounds, the judges unanimously have Cotto ahead, 87-82.

To begin round 10, Judah's right eye is swelled to the point, he probably cannot see anything out of it.  Cotto wins round 10 on all of the official scorecards, 10-9.  A left hook from Cotto sends Judah falling to the canvas, with 2:45 to go in round 11.  Judah answers the referee's count satisfactorily, and the match is resumed, with 2:30 to go in round 11.  After a few more Cotto left hands have Judah in retreat, the referee steps in to end the match, with 2:14 to go in round 11.  Judah did manage to finish the match standing.  Judah wanted to continue, but the referee made the right call.  A tearful Judah embraces his corner and Cotto is cheered boisterously by a sold out MSG crowd that came out to see the champion.

The official decision is that the winner at:  49 seconds of Round 11 by technical knockout, still undefeated, and still WBA Welterweight Champion of the World, Miguel Angel Cotto.  The win moves Cotto to 30-0, with 25 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

This was a great match for Judah, even in a loss.  Judah has been a controversial figure in boxing, that has been at times very hard to like.  His career has been marred by two suspensions.  The first, for going after a referee when Judah felt a knockout stoppage was incorrect, in late 2003.  The most recent for the incident in the match with Mayweather, Jr.  In this match, Judah became a sympathetic figure.  He continued in spite of a lot of unfortunate fouls by Cotto in this match, when he could have quit.  Judah is too small for this weight class, and though, there is a strong case for a rematch with a built in storyline it would not benefit Judah (except financially) to take it.  Cotto is too large, and there are some very attractive potential matches for Judah at 140 pounds, maybe with Ricky Hatton, or a rematch against a small Floyd Mayweather, Jr. at 147 pounds.  Boxrec.com lists Judah scheduled to box next, on September 7, 2007 at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southhaven, Mississippi, versus a yet to be named opponent.

Cotto was great in this old school match.  He was far more impressive, then he was in March, versus Urkal.  There will be debate on whether Cotto intentionally boxed dirty in this match, or not.  Only Cotto knows that.  He is not generally considered dirty.  Stuff like this happens, sometimes.  Urkal did complain about Cotto hitting in the back, in their match.  The referee let a lot go in this match on both sides.  Cotto was also, bleeding in this match from a cut above his eye caused by a headbutt.  After the Margarito match, Larry Merchant suggests the next opponent for Cotto be on the weekend of the Puerto Rican Day Parade, the biggest drawing boxer currently living in Puerto Rico, Oscar de la Hoya.  Merchant suggests the match would belong in Yankee Stadium.  To heighten the appeal, 2008 is to be the final year this Yankee Stadium is open, before it is replaced by a new Yankee Stadium set to open in 2009, that construction is already under way. 

HBO announced, that there were 21,000 people in MSG to watch this match live.  That, unbelievable number, is a new attendance record for the building.  Both boxers raised their marketability in this match, and showed amazing heart.  This was throwback boxing, and full of drama.  For fans of that style this is a must watch replay.