Vorstellungen » g done in the next week to ten days. Once Tanaka has

NEW YORK -- As Freddie Roach recalled, he recently received a phone call from Miguel Cotto, who suggested he only had three fights left. Judging by his performance Saturday night, Cotto has plenty left in the tank. Cotto became the first Puerto Rican fighter to win world championships in four weight divisions, stopping Sergio Martinez in their WBC world middleweight title fight Saturday night. "It was a reflection of my hard work (for) 10, 11 weeks," Cotto said. Martinez didnt get off the stool when the bell rang for the 10th round. He did not speak to the media after the fight, as he was taken to a hospital as a precaution. "Miguel beat him from pillar to post," said Martinezs promoter, Lou DiBella. "Miguel Cotto is a great champion." Cotto improved to 39-4 and is 8-1 at Madison Square Garden. Martinez fell to 51-3-2. According to Todd duBoef, the President of Top Rank, the attendance was 21,090, and the gross gate was under $5 million. In the week leading up to the fight, Roach, Cottos trainer, said his pupil would be able to use his footwork to control the fight, and still possessed power even though he moved up in weight class. Cotto proved Roach right from the opening bell, knocking down Martinez twice in the first round with a flurry of body shots. As the fight progressed, Cotto pressured Martinez around the ring, and attacked when openings were presented. Cotto won every round, including a 10-6 first. "Miguel fought a really great fight," Roach said. "Thank you, Miguel, for making me look so good. "He really gave the guy a boxing lesson." Martinez forced Cotto to fight in the middle of the ring instead of on the ropes or in the corners. But Cotto was able to land a variety of jabs and hooks. By the end of the eighth round, Martinez had swelling around his right eye. He also had a cut on his forehead due to a head-butt. Both cuts were glued shut. Cotto landed 54 per cent of his punches, and 54 per cent of his power punches. By comparison, Martinez connected on 31 per cent of his punches, and landed 60 of 157 power punches. "Martinez couldnt hurt him," Roach said. "Miguel listened to the game plan." The Cotto-Martinez fight was the main event of a nine-fight card. Marvin Sonsona (19-1-1) became the NABF featherweight champion with a 10-round split decision win over Wilfredo Vasquez Jr (23-4-1). "Hes a dirty, rotten fighter," Vasquez said. "When I pressured him, he held. He landed one good punch, the punch that knocked me down." Javier Maciel (29-3) won the USNBC super welterweight title, defeating Jorge Melendez (28-4-1) by split decision, and Andy Lee (32-2) stopped John Jackson (18-2) with a left hook in the fifth round. "I ran into a bad one," Jackson said. "What a lucky punch." Prior to the main card bouts, Felix Verdejo improved to 13-0 with a first-round technical knockout of Engelberto Valenzuela (9-2); and Jose Lopez (13-0) won an eight-round unanimous decision over Raul Hidalgo (21-11-0-1) to retain the WBC super bantam FECARBOX title. Jose Pedraza moved to 17-0 with a first-round technical knockout of Arturo Uruzquieta (15-6); and Willie Nelson improved to 22-1-1 with a first-round technical knockout of Darryl Cunningham (29-7). In his first professional bout, Jantory Ortiz stopped Elio Ruiz (1-5) in the first round. Red Auerbach Jersey .The South African had three birdies on the front nine and another four after the turn at Leopard Creek Country Club to move to 16-under 128 overall.Grace, who won all four of his European Tour titles in 2012, dropped his only shot of the competition on the par-3 fifth. Gordon Hayward Jersey . His chance at winning a Stanley Cup in Philadelphia is over. Same with Jeff Carter. And Brian Boucher. Throw in Ville Leino and Dan Carcillo. http://www.celticssale.com/kids-bill-russell-celtics-jersey/ .Former NBA forward Morris Peterson has been added to TSNs Toronto Raptors broadcast team. Dennis Johnson Jersey . -- Jaye Marie Green shot a course-record 10-under 62 on Wednesday to take the first-round lead in the LPGA Tours qualifying tournament. Danny Ainge Celtics Jersey . Cornet won six straight games to rally from a 2-0 deficit and take the first set. The 25th-ranked Frenchwoman broke back twice in the second set before Bacsinszky saved a match point at 5-4.When the word finally came out that Japanese star pitcher Masahiro Tanaka was being posted, I was convinced he would sign with the Texas Rangers or New York Yankees, with the LA Dodgers and Boston Red Sox being outside possibilities. Now if I had to make a wager, Id say the Seattle Mariners or Arizona Diamondbacks. Over the weekend, Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports suggested the Diamondbacks might be willing to trade their former closer J.J. Putz to the Yankees for Ichiro Suzuki. Why, I wondered, would the Dbacks want a 40-year-old future Hall of Famer in the twilight of a great career? Then it hit me! What better way to convince Tanaka to sign with them than to offer him the chance to play with the greatest Japanese player of all time. But if its not just the money, Seattle is probably an even better choice for Tanaka. The Mariners have already shown a willingness to spend by luring free agent Robinson Cano away from the bright lights of New York and they already employ one of Tanakas best friends in baseball. Hisashi Iwakuma has quietly emerged as a star in Seattle the last two seasons. I say quietly because hell always be pitching in the shadow of "King Felix" Hernandez. In two years, though, hes put together a 23-11 record with a 2.84 ERA and 286 strikeouts. He made the American League all-star team last season but couldnt pitch in the mid-summer classic since he had made a start for Seattle on the Sunday, just before the Tuesday night game. He also finished third in Cy Young voting in the American League behind the Tigers Max Scherzer and the Rangers Yu Darvish. Tanaka and Iwakuma were teammates with the Rakuten Golden Eagles in Japan from 2007 through 2011 and are reportedly good friends. Though Iwakuma put together a 107-69 record with a 2.75 ERA in Japan, he went through his share of adversities. In 2006, pitching motion rules were put into effect that forced Iwakuma to alter his delivery. In past, Japanese hurlers had been allowed to momentarily stop in mid-delivery before throwing to the plate. This was designed to throw off a hitters timing but now would simply be ruled a balk. Iwakuma changed, but altering his delivery led to shoulder problems and then elbow surgery that would cost him the bulk of two seasons. Iwakuma bounced back, though, and won the ERA title in 2008 as well as the Eiji Sawamura Award; the Major League equivalent of the Cy Young.dddddddddddd Even Iwakumas move to the Majors didnt go smoothly. Oakland won the bidding rights for him prior to the 2011 season. The sides couldnt come to terms on a contract, though, and Iwakuma wound up spending one more year in Japan before finally earning free agency at age 30 and signing with Seattle. Iwakuma will be 33 years old in April and would seem to be the perfect one to show Tanaka the ropes in the Majors. The only complication might be Iwakumas contract. He will be make $6.5 million with the Ms in 2014 and has a club option for $7 million in 2015. Tanaka could get close to twice that amount per season. That could be difficult for the Mariners to rationalize and explain to Iwakuma, whos already given them two very good seasons. Still, Ive got a feeling Seattle will find a way to get this done. The Tanaka negotiations must be completed by January 24 at 5:00 PM. Darvish took until the day before this deadline to sign with Texas. With spring training rapidly approaching, I can see this one getting done in the next week to ten days. Once Tanaka has a new home, it will only serve to intensify the bidding for free agents Ubaldo Jimenez, Ervin Santana, Matt Garza and maybe even Bronson Arroyo. The Class of 2014 inductees for the Baseball Hall of Fame will be announced on Wednesday at 2:00 PM. Im sticking with the same three selections I talked about months ago; Braves pitching legends Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine and White Sox two-time MVP, Frank Thomas. I counted at least 10 other worthy Hall of Famers on this ballot, but thanks to PEDs and the sheer back-log of quality candidates, Im convinced only the aforementioned three will get in. As for Jack Morris, whos on the ballot for the 15th and final time, I dont care what his career ERA was; any man who was the staff ace on three World Series winners (84 Tigers, 91 Twins, 92 Blue Jays) belongs in the Hall of Fame - end of story. Check out Morriss numbers in 1992 with the Blue Jays at age 37. 240.2 innings pitched, 21-6 record, 4.04 ERA, six complete games and one shutout. Remember, the Blue Jays had Tom Henke and Duane Ward as the 1-2 punch in the pen. The onus wasnt on Morris to pitch that many innings or that many complete games. He just did, he was that good. ' ' '