Miguel Cotto stops Yuri Foreman in ninth round

Miguel Cotto shone brightly once again, this time under the twinkling lights of Yankee Stadium.

The pride of Puerto Rico stopped a game Yuri Foreman in the ninth round Saturday night to win the junior middleweight title, delighting thousands of his flag-waving fans in the first fight at the Bronx ballpark in more than three decades.

It didn’t come without a bit of controversy, or at least an interesting footnote.

Foreman slipped in the seventh round and badly twisted his right knee, then slipped to the mat again later in the round. He survived to the end but could hardly move around the ring, getting tagged at will by Cotto and limping on a knee that was already covered by a black brace.

Between rounds, Foreman’s wife leaned over the railing and implored his trainer to stop the fight. Someone in Foreman’s corner obliged and threw in the towel early in the seventh round, but referee Arthur Mercante Jr. angrily tossed the towel right back out. He asked Foreman if he wanted to continue, and the aspiring rabbi with the compelling back story elected to fight on.

The ring had filled with people and was cleared before the fight continued.

Foreman (28-1) was able to move better in the eighth round and survived to the ninth, when Cotto caught him near the ropes and dropped him to the canvas once more. This time, Mercante stepped in and called off the fight at 42 seconds of the round.

It was somewhat vindicating for Cotto, who had endured a pair of savage beatings at the hands of Antonio Margarito and pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao, who watched the fight ringside. Those losses and a few difficult wins had many people wondering whether Cotto still had it.

He proved that he certainly does, winning a title in his third weight division.

Cotto (35-2, 28 KOs) set the tempo with his left jab from the moment he stepped in the ring, showing that he’s perfectly comfortable at 154 pounds. Even before the bizarre middle rounds, when for a few moments it looked like the fight would go to the scorecards, Cotto was always in control.

He even had timme early on to make sure that Mercante was OK after an errant hook nearly hit the referee during the fifth round. Mercante just smiled as the fight carried on.

The fact that Mercante was in charge of the fight was yet another string that tied the fight to the glory days of the old ballpark. His father, the late Arthur Mercante, refereed the final bout at the old Yankee Stadium in September 1976, when Muhammad Ali beat Ken Norton.

GOLF

Price, Armour tied in Iowa

Nick Price shot a six-under-par 65 to pull into a tie with Tommy Armour III after second-round play at the Principal Charity Classic in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Price, who was at 10-under 132 with Armour, will enter Sunday’s final round with at least a share of the lead for the third year in a row at Iowa.

Armour took a three-stroke lead into the second round but shot a 69 and missed a birdie putt on No. 18 that would have put him ahead.

Don Pooley, who won at Iowa in 2003, shot a 65 and was at 133. Bruce Vaughan, Dan Forsman and Russ Cochran were another shot back.

An ill Taylor Floyd birdied the 18th hole of the Honors Course to win his match while Henrik Norlander eagled the 17th to take another and send Augusta (Ga.) State to its first NCAA tournament final against powerhouse Oklahoma State at Chattanooga, Tenn.

The Jaguars are in the NCAA tournament for the 11th time while Oklahoma State, winner of 10 national titles, has appeared in every tournament in the championship’s 64-year history.

The top-seeded Cowboys defeated No. 5 Oregon, 3-1-1, earlier Saturday as Trent Whitekiller beat Isaiah Telles, 5 and 4, and Peter Uihlein and Morgan Hoffman grabbed 3-and-2 victories over Daniel Miernicki and Eugene Wong.

Floyd’s 2-up win over Florida State’s Wesley Graham and Norlander’s 3-and-1 win over Drew Kittleson coupled with Carter Newman’s 4-and-3 victory over Michael Hebert to send sixth-seeded Augusta State to the 4-1 victory.

COLLEGE SOFTBALL

Arizona defeats Washington

Kenzie Fowler bounced back from a rocky Women’s College World Series debut and Karissa Buchanan scored twice, and Arizona eliminated defending national champion Washington with a 4-3 win at Oklahoma City.

Arizona (49-12) scored three earned runs against two-time national player of the year Danielle Lawrie, who had won her previous five starts against the Huskies’ Pac-10 rival with a 1.00 ERA.

Washington (50-9) hadn’t given up more than one earned run in a game all season.