Miguel Cotto Becomes Welterweight Champion – February 21, 2009 (This Day In Boxing History)

Miguel Cotto gave another reason he was one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in 2009.

Cotto defeated Michael Jennings by TKO at 2:38 in the fifth round of the vacant WBO welterweight title fight.

“He was a real good fighter,” Cotto said at the time.

“He had a lot of strength, a lot of courage inside the ring. Everyone saw it.”

The fight started slow, but it slowly began to shift towards Cotto’s favor in the third round when Jennings continued to move away and clinch his opponent when he got close.

Cotto’s defense made it that way.

In the fourth round, Cotto sent Jennings to the floor with a hard left hook and body shots. Jennings got back up but hit the mat again when he was slammed with more body shots.

Jennings was able to get on his feet, but was met with combinations that trapped him.

He made it to the fifth round, but was shot down a third time with vicious body shots. The referee stopped the fight.

Cotto is the first Puerto Rican boxer to win world titles in four weight classes from light welterweight to middleweight.