Cotto beats Mosley to retain welterweight title

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Miguel Cotto retained his World Boxing Association welterweight title with a unanimous decision over "Sugar" Shane Mosley in an action-packed 12 rounds at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

Cotto of Puerto Rico improved his perfect record to 31-0 with the fourth defense of his WBA title while Mosley, a four-times world champion, dropped to 44-5.

Two judges scored the fight 115-13 and the third had it 116-113 for the champion.

Neither fighter scored a knock down but Cotto bled from the corner of his right eye after an accidental clash of heads in the final round. Mosley had swelling under both eyes after 12 rounds of brawling.

"It was a great fight," Mosley told reporters.

"Miguel is very strong. Not only is he a powerful puncher but he can box. He's a young lion on his way to greatness."

The 36-year-old Mosley, nine years older than Cotto, tried to use his reach advantage with a stinging left jab and caught Cotto with occasional right-hand leads, right crosses and uppercuts when the Puerto Rican came inside.

Cotto looked to wade through Mosley's attack to unleash a punishing assortment of left hooks and straight lefts mixed with right hands from surprising angles.

'FELT THE BUZZ'

The fight was intense from the start with both boxers determined to be the aggressor.

Cotto was stunned in the ninth when Mosley caught him with a big right, but the Puerto Rican stayed out of danger and came back with some firepower of his own in the 10th.

"We both did our best," Cotto said.

"Mosley punches very hard. I was hurt by the right hand in the ninth. I had to go away for a while."

Mosley said he felt Cotto's power too.

"He caught me with some good lefts," the American said.

"I never felt like I was going down, but I felt the buzz."

Mosley looked to be tiring in the middle of the fight after the furious start but the American tied Cotto up and piled up points with some effective punching in the clinches.

Cotto, fighting for the fourth time in Madison Square Garden, landed fewer punches but connected with more telling blows that ignited the partisan crowd into cheers of "Cotto, Cotto."

In an earlier bout, Joel Casamayor of Cuba retained his World Boxing Council interim world lightweight title with a 12-round split decision over American Jose A. Santa Cruz.

(Reporting by Larry Fine; Editing by Peter Rutherford)