Cotto stops Foreman in Yankee Stadium bout

Puerto Rico's Miguel Cotto stopped Yuri Foreman in the ninth round on Saturday to seize his World Boxing Association junior middleweight title at the new Yankee Stadium.

The ending was suitably dramatic for boxing's return to the home of baseball's Yankees, more than three decades after the original Yankee Stadium hosted its last bout.

Cotto, beloved by Puerto Rican fight fans in New York, landed a left hook to the body that sent Foreman down and referee Arthur Mercante called a halt at 42 seconds of the ninth round.

Foreman's right knee, on which he was already wearing a brace, had buckled in the seventh round and he fell.

The Brooklyn-based Israeli resumed but his mobility was clearly compromised, allowing Cotto to land punches almost at will.

In the eighth round someone near Foreman's corner threw in a towel, but Mercante asked Foreman if he wanted to go on, cleared the ring of the people who had poured in and continued.

"There was no need to stop the fight," Mercante said.

"They were in the middle of a great exchange, a great fight. People came to see a great fight and I felt like I did the right thing."

Foreman's gutsy effort ended in the next round, however, as Cotto handed him his first defeat in 29 fights.

Cotto, fighting in the 154-pound division for the first time, improved to 35-2 with 28 knockouts. The victory was vindication for Cotto, who suffered two devastating knockouts in his last four fights - one by Antonio Margarito and one by Filipino hero Manny Pacquiao, who was at ringside.

The majority of the 20,272-strong crowd were backing Cotto, waving Puerto Rican flags and cheering every time he was shown on the video screen.

But Foreman had his fans, too, waving Israeli flags and signs featuring the Star of David.