Miguel Cotto retained his World Boxing Association welterweight title after defeating the former undisputed world champion Zab Judah through a technical knockout in the 11th-round in front of a crowd of more than 20,000 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

The 26-year-old unbdefeated Puerto Rican finished off his contender at 49 seconds of the round knocking the American twice an forcing referee Arthur Mercante Jr to intervene and stop the fight.

This is the second time that Cotto successfully defends his title as he improved his record to 30-0 with 25 knockouts, while Judah fell to 34-5, also with 25 knockouts.

"I expected a tough fight and that's exactly what I got," Cotto said in the press conference.
"He sure did land some great punches, but I was prepared for them. I trained hard. I could tell, round by round, I was taking over the fight."

The fans at Madison Square Garden were behind the Puerto Rican although Judah is from Brooklyn. But this is no surprise. Just a few days ago a similar thing happened at the Gold Cup as the National Soccer Team played Guatemala in front of a definitely partisan Guatemalan crowd although the game was played in the US. Of course, the referee didn't do the home team any favors in what was considered a pretty physical match.

“You receive your pay because people follow you — the people who pay the pay-per-views, people who pay the tickets,” Cotto declared this week . “It’s important to me that people know who is Miguel Cotto, what Miguel Cotto can do. It’s important to me that people from the U.S., if they want, they can follow Miguel Cotto.”

Cotto won the WBA championship last December and succeeded in defending it twice.
Judah has lost three of his last four fights. He lost his title to Carlos Baldomir in January 2006 and then was defeated again three months later by Floyd Mayweather Jr. and banned from boxing for twelve months for starting a feud as he hit Mayweather below the belt and in the back of the head.