Fast Break
Boxing
Margarito stops Cotto in 11th
So that’s why every welterweight in the world was so scared of Antonio Margarito.
Margarito stopped Miguel Cotto in the 11th round Saturday night at Las Vegas, blemishing Cotto’s unbeaten record and claiming the WBA 147-pound title with one last incredible barrage of punches.
Margarito (37-5, 27 KOs), the Mexican star so often ducked by the division’s best fighters in recent years, dropped the Puerto Rican champion twice in the 11th after several rounds of relentless pressure at the MGM Grand Garden.
Cotto (32-1), the respected champion attempting his fifth title defense, won the early rounds with defense and timely counterpunching.
Margarito took several major shots on his tough chin, yet still kept up the same relentless attack that finally paid off in the middle rounds.
With Cotto bleeding and woozy, the champion’s corner stopped the fight with 55 seconds left, sending Margarito’s team into a delirious celebration of a long-awaited victory.
Basketball
Schultz says Stern warned him
Former SuperSonics owner Howard Schultz said he was warned by NBA commissioner David Stern that it would be “very expensive” to pursue a lawsuit seeking to return the team to Seattle from Oklahoma City.
Schultz made the claim in a declaration filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
Schultz has sued to try to reverse his sale of the franchise to Clay Bennett, claiming the Oklahoma City businessman failed to follow through on a promise to negotiate in good faith to keep the team in Seattle.
On July 2, Bennett’s ownership group and city of Seattle officials announced a settlement in another lawsuit, allowing the team to move immediately to Oklahoma City, where it will play during the upcoming season.
That settlement did not cover Schultz’s lawsuit.
Baseball
Fan injured in Shea Stadium fall
A fan was seriously injured after plunging 25 feet from the handrails of an escalator at Shea Stadium during Saturday’s New York Mets game, police and team officials said.
The accident happened fewer than four months after another spectator was killed in a similar fall.
The fan, a 26-year-old man, fell about 10 p.m. from the box-seat level to a floor near Gate D at the stadium as the Mets played the St. Louis Cardinals, police Detective Brian Sessa said.
The unconscious man was taken to a hospital, the Fire Department said.
He was in critical condition early today but expected to survive, said police Lt. John Grimpel.