Miguel Cotto showed he is still an elite fighter that needs another chance at the title.  Cotto retained the WBA Super Lightweight title with this fight, but he is ready to go for a higher profile prize. And that means either a bout with Floyd Mayweather or a rematch with Manny Pacquiao.  Cotto was on top of his game and looked as good as ever. His feet looked quick and his punches were accurate.  He spent much of the fight backpedaling and landing bruising left hooks as Margarito charged toward him. The punishment resulted in the refs stopping the fight after the 10th round.

College Football

Oklahoma State had never won a conference championship, and their head coach did not want to lobby for a shot at the National Title until they accomplished that.  Well on Saturday Joseph Randle ran for 151 yards and two touchdowns, Richetti Jones returned a fumble for a score and No. 3 Oklahoma State throttled No. 13 Oklahoma 44-10 Saturday night to win the Big 12 championship and make its case to play for the BCS national title.  Many think that even with an impressive win over an Oklahoma team that was highly ranked to start the season it won’t be enough for them to leap from the Alabama Crimson tide and play LSU in the BCS title game.

NFL

Tim Tebow led yet another late rally, passing for a season-best 202 yards and two third-quarter touchdowns to help the Denver Broncos win their fifth straight game with a 35-32 victory over the Minnesota Vikings.  Before people get carried away though, the Vikings Christian Ponder threw two crucial interceptions that led to 10 Denver points, and the Broncos defense took full advantage of facing a rookie QB.  Tim Tebow hooked up with Demaryius Thomas on a few big plays, and Willis McGahee rushed for over 100 yards to lead a balanced attack.  The Broncos are now 6 – 1 under Tebow, but it’s difficult to say they are an better off because the schedule has been favorable, we will only see where Tebow goes from here.

Golf

For the second straight year, Tiger Woods found himself locked in a battle with a gritty little competitor who refused to go away at the Chevron World Challenge at Sherwood Country Club.  This time, Woods delivered the clutch putts at the end, making an eight-foot, and downhill birdie putt to finally put away Zach Johnson.  Woods gave a violent fist pump as his second straight birdie disappeared into the cup, perhaps reigniting one of the most storied careers in golf.  Woods was attempting to break the longest winless streak of his career, a 749-day dry spell that spanned 26 starts in which he had been unable to prevail in either an official or unofficial tournament. No one could have guessed on Nov. 15, 2009, when Woods won the JB Were Australian Masters, that it would be this long before he won again.  Does this mean that Tiger is back and going to return to his old form?  Stay tuned…

MLB

Manny Ramirez is applying for reinstatement to Major League Baseball, his agent, Scott Shapiro, said.  Ramirez played five games in April for the Rays before being suspended 100 games for his second positive drug test and consequently retiring. Sources said Ramirez still has to serve a 50-game ban before he can play again. MLB is showing sympathy since Ramirez would have filled out the full suspension had he simply served it last year.  It’s unclear how much Manny has left in the tank, or which team would be interested in the aging slugger and his sure to be hefty contract demands.

NFL
Eli Manning threw four touchdown passes, including two to Victor Cruz , and the New York Giants beat the Philadelphia Eagles 29-16 Sunday.  Michael Vick started despite suffering a concussion in last week’s 35-31 loss at Atlanta. He left with a broken right hand in the fourth quarter after helping the Eagles overcome a 14-0 first-quarter deficit to take a 16-14 lead.  It’s uncertain how long the left-handed quarterback will be out. He’ll have a CT scan Monday.  The Giants made several big plays in the passing game even with the Eagles vaunted secondary, and Philadelphia’s weakness was exposed; their tackling is horrendous.  With Vick being injured, Vince Young’s status uncertain, and Mike Kafka’s playing pedestrian football it’s not looking good for the so called dream team in Philadelphia.

NFL
When the New England Patriots jumped out to what appeared to be an insurmountable 21-0 second-quarter lead, the Buffalo Bills never panicked. They just gathered themselves after the early New England scoring flurry, and went to back to work, eventually scoring 34 of the game’s final 44 points.  This lead to their eventual 34 – 31 win over the New England Patriots, and with the New York Jets losing vaulted them to the top of the AFC East standings.  The Bills look like a different team, and they have learned how to finish games unlike last season where they lost all of the close ones.

MLB
The Atlanta Braves lost to the Washington Nationals 3 – 0 on Sunday, shrinking their lead over the Cardinals for the National League Wild Card slot to one game.  The Braves have a tough challenge with their last three games against the Philadelphia Phillies, while the Cardinals finish the season playing the Houston Astros.  If the Braves want to make it to the post season they are going to have to beat the team with the best record in baseball at least two times, so it won’t matter what the Cardinals do.  The Astros have the worst record in baseball, so the Braves can’t expect much help from them.

College Football
Another decisive victory away from home pushed LSU to No. 1 in The Associated Press college football poll for the first time since 2007.  The Tigers bumped Oklahoma from the top spot Sunday after winning 47-21 at West Virginia the night before.  The Sooners had been No. 1 since the preseason. They stayed unbeaten with a 38-28 victory at home against Missouri.  LSU received 42 first-place votes from the 60-member media panel and 1,471 points. Oklahoma received 12 first-place votes and 1,422 points.  Last week, Oklahoma had 37 first-place votes and LSU had 14.  No. 3 Alabama received five first-place votes and No. 4 Boise State had one.  Oklahoma State jumped two spots to No. 5 after winning at Texas A&M.  In the USA Today coaches’ poll, Oklahoma is still No. 1, with LSU and Alabama tied for second.  The Tigers haven’t been No. 1 since winning the national championship in 2007. The Tigers held the top ranking for four weeks during the regular season that year.  LSU (4-0) added the victory against West Virginia to wins over Oregon at Dallas Cowboys Stadium and at Mississippi State.

NBA

Deron Williams has a new agent, though Nets fans hope that doesn’t mean a new address. Williams has two seasons left on his current contract but has the ability to opt out of the $17.7 million he’s due in the 2012-13 season to become a free agent.  Williams has made no firm promises about staying in New Jersey but has said he likes the direction of the franchise under new owner Mikhail Prokhorov. The 27-year-old has likewise expressed optimism about the team’s scheduled move to Brooklyn starting with the 2012-13 season and his potential role in luring other top players to the Nets. The Nets, sources said, intend to make a hard push for Howard in an attempt to convince Williams to commit long term.

College Football

The Florida State Seminoles most reliable receiver is leaving school to pursue a professional baseball career.  Taiwan Easterling, a three-year starter for the Seminoles who had at least one catch in each of his last 24 games, signed a professional contract with the Chicago Cubs and is foregoing his final year of football eligibility.  Easterling caught 43 passes for 551 yards and five touchdowns last season at Florida State.  He finished his career with 108 catches for 1,315 yards and eight touchdowns. His 108 catches rank 18th all-time at Florida State, one ahead of former Seminole Jesse Hester.  Easterling hit .296 for the Seminoles this season highlighted by a 4-for-4 performance in the NCAA Regional baseball tournament.

Tennis

Novak Djokovic won Wimbledon yesterday over the best tennis player in the world Rafael Nadal, Djokovic won the matches 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, and 6-3 only losing the one set to Nadal.  The victory prevented Nadal from winning his 11^th grand slam title, and his third title at Wimbledon; it was also the first time that Djokovic beat Nadal in a major tournament.  Being that the outcome of a tennis match can be influenced by many factors including the surface, this was Djokovic’s fourth straight win over Nadal on hardcourt surfaces.  Nadal plays best on the clay surfaces, although he is very formidable on hardcourt as well.

NBA

The NBA has now gone into lockout as the players and owners have failed to reach an agreement on a new CBA while the July 1^st deadline passed.  Instead of building upon the recent success, the league is risking cancellation of the entire 2011-12 season.  At the root of the disagreement is the fact that the owners claim 22 NBA teams are losing money because they are spending too much money on player contracts, the league has been losing money for years and the owners feel that the trend cannot continue.  It seems the owners are ready to dig in and possibly lose an entire season if that means they will come out of it with a system  that will make sure the league grows for the foreseeable future.  The players want things to stay the same with a soft cap and guaranteed contracts, but in the end those things will doom the league to failure.  The owners will prevail in the end because they are more equipped to deal with a long term work stoppage than the players are.

NFL

Nike re-signed Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick to an endorsement deal Friday, nearly four years after dropping him amid his legal troubles.  Nike, which signed Vick as a rookie in 2001, terminated his contract in August 2007 after he filed a plea agreement admitting his involvement in a dogfighting ring. Vick spent 21 months in prison on those charges, and came back last season to post a near MVP campaign.  Vick has re-established himself as one of the most electric and exciting players in the NFL.  This would be one of the greatest comeback stories in the history of sports if Michael Vick were to continue his work to rehab his image on and off the field.  Nike is investing in the Vick enterprise before it gets fully back on track hoping to cash in, but how profitable it will be is dependent on Vick staying out of trouble.