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Saturday, April 19 Mayweather claims unanimous decision over Sosa By David A. Avila MaxBoxing.com |
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FRESNO, Calif. -- Floyd Mayweather Jr. defended his WBC lightweight title with a unanimous decision over Victoriano Sosa on Saturday night. It was another classic boxer-versus-puncher fight, but this time in the boxing-crazy town of Fresno, a frenzied crowd enjoyed every minute. Mayweather Jr. (30-0, 20 KOs), with nary a mark on his face, talked about winning the fight easily and looking forward to fighting the mandatory challenger next before moving up to 140 pounds. "It was an easy fight, easy," said Mayweather. "Every time I wanted to hit him with a jab, I did -- every time." Though fans booed throughout the last two-thirds of the fight, Mayweather was unperturbed. "I don't fight for the crowd. I don't fight for the ooohs and aahs," Mayweather said. "I'm a boxer. I'm not Mike Tyson, I don't knock everybody out. I'm a boxer." Sosa (35-3-2, 26 KOs), looking perplexed after the decision, felt robbed after hearing the judges decision being read 118-110 twice and 119-109. "What do I have to do, kill the guy?," asked Sosa. "I landed all of the meaningful punches. He only landed the jabs and the little punches." Sosa looked for the knockout punch after landing several right hands early in the fight. But Mayweather remained calm as usual, landing the occasional stiff jab and the quick left hook whenever his opponent got too overzealous. Mayweather said that he felt Sosa was a very strong fighter for the first six rounds and felt compelled to box carefully. Especially after injuring his left hand. "I hurt it in the sixth round with a hook," Mayweather said. "He was strong until about the eighth round then he started tiring." Sosa said he was disappointed. "I beat him," Sosa said. "I showed him more than enough." Mayweather disagreed. "Forget the big punches and the crowd, that's not what boxing is about," Mayweather said. In the semi-main event, Miguel Cotto (15-0, 12 KOs) walked into a hostile pro-Mexican crowd and promptly quieted them with a dominant four-round performance and stopped the game Joel Perez at 1:29 of the round with a left hook punch to the liver. "I was just doing my job," said Cotto, who looked clean after the fight and does not want a fight with Mayweather, Panchito Bojado or Mohammad Abdulaev until he builds up a fan base and something else. "I want to win a world title first," said Cotto. "I want it to be a big fight, a meaningful fight." Cotto seemed undisturbed by the booing and large crowd and promptly broke down Perez with booming left hands for two rounds, then set up the Texan with stiff jabs in the fourth that ultimately lead to the left hook to the body. Perez took a few seconds to fall to his knees and was unable to beat the count. "I was looking at my corner, not paying attention," said Perez. "He hits very hard." In the main undercard bout, a bantamweight fight, two young fighters with high-powered backing were matched against each other in a stepping stone fight. Eduardo Escobedo, a Raul and Juan Manuel Marquez clone, who is managed by Nacho Beristain, faced Argentina's Nestor Paniagua who trains out of the notorious La Brea Boxing Academy based in Los Angeles -- a place that features fighters like Carlos "Famoso" Hernandez and Omar Weiss. Paniagua started out fast with his no-nonsense brawling style that forced Escobedo to break into a defensive shell. But after the first round, the Mexico City fighter began using feints to set up his combinations and get out. Round after round Escobedo utilized his box and move style with an occasional long left uppercut a la Marquez, to accumulate some points. In the sixth and final round, Escobedo caught Paniagua with a left hook to the chin that forced the referee to stop the fight at :41 seconds.
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