After the fight the Puerto Rican moved up to the Junior Middleweight division to challenge Foreman for his WBA title.

It was the first big match in the area since September 1976, when Muhammad Ali outpointed Ken Norton in the first Yankee Stadium.

[13] In early January 2010, Foreman began talks with Bob Arum to arrange for himself and Filipino boxer seven-division world champion Manny Pacquiao, to meet on March 13, 2010.

It was the first major bout in the area since September 1976, when Muhammad Ali fought Ken Norton in the original Yankee Stadium.

The American trainer expected an impressive win by his boxer and this bout showed what Cotto had left in his skills, after taking a lot of punishment against several recent opponents such as Antonio Margarito, Joshua Clottey and Manny Pacquiao.

Round three began with the same way, with the two boxer trading hard hooks; Foreman threw some good shot, but Cotto hit the Israeli fighter with some of his own.

After a few more falls from the knee giving out and Cotto beginning to land, Foreman's trainer Joe Grier threw in the towel midway through the 8th Round.

While the crowd was not sure what was happening, the ring was cleared after a delay of a couple of minutes and the fight resumed with about half the round remaining.

Cotto landed a left hook to the body and Foreman went down 42 seconds into the 9th Round, seemingly as much from the blow as from his inability to put weight on the leg, and Mercante called off the fight.

However, it’s not likely to happen, as Cotto said he prefers to go after only popular fighters for the big money fights and Foreman doesn’t fall into the category.

The live telecast from Yankee Stadium on Saturday plus a replay Sunday morning was watched by about 1.9 million viewers.