BOXING

• Cotto takes advantage of injured Foreman to claim title

  By Lyle Fitzsimmons, Contributing Boxing Editor Bronx, NY (Sports Network) - Former Puerto Rican Olympian Miguel Cotto became a three-division professional world champion with a bizarre ninth-round stoppage of incumbent Yuri Foreman that earned him the WBA super welterweight title in the main event of boxing's historic return to Yankee Stadium.

  A former title-holder at 140 and 147 pounds, Cotto picked up the newest belt when a left hook to the body dropped the previously unbeaten Foreman to the canvas and prompted an immediate stoppage from referee Arthur Mercante Jr. at 42 seconds of the round.

  The action before a paid crowd of 20,272 took a dramatic turn in the seventh round when the speedy Foreman, who'd succeeded largely with movement and speed, slipped to the canvas on an AT&T logo along the ropes and apparently re-injured a knee that had been braced entering the fight.

  He fell to the canvas later in the round without being hit and it appeared as if the fight had ended in the eighth when a towel was tossed into the ring. But the apparent surrender was overruled by Mercante, who immediately ordered the ring cleared and motioned for the action to continue.

  "I thought there were a lot of bad decisions made with regard to the officiating of the fight," said Emanuel Steward, Cotto's lead trainer. "And at the end of that round I at least thought the corner would stop the fight. But Miguel did what he had to do." Cotto improved to 35-2 and scored his 28th knockout.

  "His knee was hurt and my mindset was to put pressure on him," said the 29- year-old, who was making his first appearance since a stoppage loss to Manny Pacquiao that cost him his share of the welterweight title last November.

  The match with Foreman was his first at 154 pounds, where he was ranked No. 5 by the WBA.

  "I preferred to continue against (Joshua) Clottey when I had a huge cut over my eye, so I know how (Foreman) felt," Cotto said. "He felt the same. He wanted to continue. I had to just press him, press him, press him and I knew the fight was going to be over." Foreman, who outpointed Daniel Santos to win his title on the Pacquiao-Cotto undercard last year, fell to 28-1 as a professional. He'd gotten significant notice coming into the New York fight because of his status as a rabbinical student in Brooklyn following his move to the U.S. from Israel in 1999.

  He was the first Israeli citizen to hold a world boxing championship and was the first Jewish champion since light heavyweight Mike Rossman in 1978.

  In the first, Cotto moved forward behind a stiff left jab and followed up with the odd snapping right hand. Foreman, though three inches taller and holding a five-inch reach edge, spent most of the session on the move, only occasionally stopping to plant his feet and deliver a meaningful shot.

  Foreman opened the second more stationary and looked much larger, but eventually got back to movement midway through the round when Cotto landed a looping left. A three-punch combo by Foreman featured a solid left, though it was followed later by a stiff left jab that knocked Foreman backward.

  Cotto's punches seemed to move Foreman in the first half of the round, before the champion rallied with flurries in the latter half, including a quick inside left that landed flush in the final 15 seconds.

  Foreman's edge in quickness was blatantly apparent for the first time in the fourth, when he snapped Cotto's head back with a right hand in first 10 seconds, then landed another about a minute in. Cotto scored with a right at end of flurry near the ropes with just more than a minute left, but Foreman replied well late.

  The fifth was a tale of two halves, with Cotto controlling the initial portion with a thudding left early and an overhand right midway, to the delight of fans who began a "Cotto, Cotto" chant. Foreman against used speed in the latter half of the round, throwing a four-punch combination and several quick one-twos.

  Foreman was on the bike for the majority of a less action-filled sixth, during which Cotto landed a couple hooks to the body and again was the more solid puncher when the two did stop to exchange.

  Cotto improved to 15-2 in 17 career title fights. He was WBO junior welterweight champion from 2004-06, then held shares of the welterweight from 2006-08 and again in 2009.

  * * * * * Armenian import Vanes Martirosyan retained his NABO/NABF super welterweight titles and remained unbeaten in the process with a wide unanimous decision over previously undefeated Joe Greene in a 10-round bout.

  Trained by Freddie Roach, Martirosyan won all three cards by counts of 96-93, 96-93 and 98-91.

  SportsNetwork.com also scored it 98-91 for the winner.

  Martirosyan upped his record to 28-0 in a career that began in 2005. He entered the bout ranked No. 3 in the world by the WBO and No. 6 by the WBC.

  Greene, born in Brooklyn and now a resident of Queens, is 22-1. He was ranked ninth and 11th by the WBO and WBC, respectively.

  The New Yorker was the busier fighter in the opening round, coming forward behind a high-held defense and scoring well with straight left hands. He prompted a brief delay in the final half-minute of the first after landing a left that strayed slightly below Martirosyan's belt.

  Referee Steve Smoger, however, chose not to impose a penalty for the foul.

  The same give-and-take scenario was largely in effect in the second, with Greene again the busier fighter and remaining effective in denying Martirosyan's intermittent attempts at offense.

  The Armenian opened up in the third and landed well with counters to the body as Greene chose to rush in with flailing overhand shots.

  Martirosyan succeeded from a distance in the fourth, using his edge in reach to draw Greene into more porous offensive bursts, which he countered well. Greene was on the short end of a barely low blow midway through the round, prompting a brief halt.

  The action cooled in the fifth and sixth with Martirosyan again attempting to control space and occasionally scoring with straight right counters. Greene briefly skidded to the canvas in the final minute of round five after a mid- ring lunge was sidestepped.

  Greene appeared somewhat slowed in the seventh as Martirosyan landed several clean counter shots to blunt his rushes and continually reduced him to long- range flails.

  Martirosyan's best round came in the eighth when he twice drove Greene to the ropes with right hands, then dropped his hands after landing a shot late in the round and encouraged his opponent to engage more frequently.

  Another phantom low blow landed on Greene early in the ninth round, but Smoger immediately waved the fighters back together instead of allowing a respite.

  The bout's lone knockdown came in the final seconds of the final round, when Martirosyan cuffed Greene on the back of the head with a left hook and drove him to the canvas. Greene immediately rose and appeared unhurt.

  * * * * * Perpetual motion Polish import Pawel Wolak won for the 27th time in 28 pro fights, outworking New York's James Moore en route to a unanimous decision in a 10-round junior middleweight bout.

  Wolak, whose bread and butter is a constant - albeit not necessarily spectacular - work rate, swept the scorecards with verdicts of 97-93, 97-93 and 96-94.

  The win was the 28-year-old's sixth straight since his lone career loss, a 10- round decision to Ishe Smith two years ago at the Aviator Sports Arena in Brooklyn.

  Moore, who began his career with 15 straight wins, lost for the third time in five fights to drop to 17-3.

  * * * * * Long-armed Puerto Rican slugger Juan Gonzalez went the distance for the first time in eight fights, but nonetheless stayed unbeaten with a unanimous four- round decision over Juan Lucio in a lightweight bout.

  Gonzalez, who scored a third-round KO and six first-round stoppages in seven previous outings, earned his initial decision nod by scores of 39-37, 39-37 and 40-36.

  The 20-year-old, whose 74-inch reach is longer than either of the fighters in the main event in spite of a 20-plus pound weight difference, controlled each round with jabs and the occasional booming overhand right.

  Lucio, who was wobbled badly in the third round, dropped to 4-1-1.

  * * * * * Colorado's Terry Baterbaugh made his first East Coast trip a successful one, grinding out a unanimous decision over Long Island favorite Tommy Rainone in a six-round welterweight bout.

  Baterbaugh, who improved to 6-3-1 in 10 pro fights, earned scores of 59-55, 59-55 and 60-54 with consistent aggression that frequently forced Rainone, a 30-year-old southpaw, to the ropes and eventually raised a lumpy welt under his left eye.

  Baterbaugh had never fought outside his home state.

  Rainone, now 12-4, has lost four of six since starting his career at 10-0.

  * * * * * New Jersey featherweight Jorge Diaz won for the 13th straight time with a violent sixth-round TKO of game Korean Jae Sung Lee.

  Diaz, who recorded his ninth stoppage as a pro, battered an outgunned Lee back and forth across the ring in the final round before referee Sparkle Lee ultimately ended matters at 1:54.

  Lee is 10-3-1.

  * * * * * Puerto Rican-born Abner Cotto, cousin of main-eventer Miguel, won his eighth straight bout as a lightweight with a unanimous six-round decision over Edgar Portillo.

  Cotto swept the scorecards with counts of 59-55, 59-55 and 58-56, with help from two of the cornermen who later helped his relative in a try for Foreman's WBA super welterweight title.

  Portillo, from Midland, Texas, is 6-5-1.

  * * * * * New York-based 140-pounder Christian Martinez won his fourth straight as a professional - all by stoppage - with a fourth-round stoppage of Jonathan Cuba in the evening's opening bout.

  Martinez dropped Cuba just before the bell to end round three, then scored another knockdown in the fourth before a follow-up barrage drove Cuba to the floor again and prompted the stoppage at 1:18 of the session.

  Cuba, also from New York, is 2-2.

  06/06 01:12:30 ET