Miguel Cotto battered Alfonso Gomez for five rounds Saturday night in Atlantic City, N.J., to retain his WBA welterweight title and set up a fight with new IBF champion Antonio Margarito.

Earlier, Margarito dominated Kermit Cintron for the second time, then knocked him out in the sixth round to win the IBF crown at Boardwalk Hall.

Cotto had no trouble with the outmanned Gomez and ran his record to 32-0 with 26 knockouts when Dr. Mark Schaber stopped the fight after a lopsided fifth round. In that round, Gomez went down for the third time. Gomez’s face was swollen almost from the first time the Puerto Rican star hit him in the mismatch.

“I wanted to work and do it the right way,” Cotto said of his fourth defense of the title he won here on Dec. 2, 2006, against Carlos Quintana.

In the third and fourth rounds alone, Cotto outlanded Gomez 108-23. Two of the knockdowns came on body shots. A straight left to the face late in the fifth provided the third knockdown.Cintron put up almost no resistance against Margarito.

“They promised me Cotto and they’d better deliver,” said Margarito, now 36-5 with 25 knockouts.

Tarver handles Woods

Antonio Tarver climbed into the ring with one light heavyweight title. He departed with two championship belts and a roaring crowd behind him.

Tarver handily defeated Clinton Woods with a unanimous 12-round decision in Tampa, Fla., to retain his lightly regarded IBO crown and seize the IBF title from his British foe.

Tarver (27-4, 19 KOs) thrilled his hometown fans by rocking Woods with a solid left jab to the head in the 11th round.