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BOXING • Austin Trout controlled the fight early and roughed up Miguel Cotto late to win a 12-round unanimous decision and retain his share of the 154-pound title Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Trout (26-0) left Cotto's battered face red and swollen after cranking up the pressure over the final two rounds to truly take control on the scorecards. Cotto (37-4) lost his second straight fight after dropping a piece of the 154-pound title to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May.

Cotto had long ruled as the undisputed champion of the New York fight scene, winning all seven of his fights at the Garden, plus one at Yankee Stadium.

Trout never wavered even as the crowd was against him from the start. Two judges scored the bout 117-111 and the third had it 119-109.

Franklin, Cordes notch wins

SOCCER • Alex Morgan scored 44 seconds into the match and the U.S. women's team went on to beat Ireland 2-0 in Glendale, Ariz. Morgan also had an assist on Megan Rapinoe's goal late in the first half.

Morgan, who scored three times in the Americans' 5-0 victory over Ireland in Portland, Ore., on Wednesday night, has 28 goals this calendar year. Morgan and Rapinoe left the game in the 59th minute as U.S. coach Jill Ellis emptied her bench.

The match, in front of a crowd of 11,570 in 63,000-seat University of Phoenix Stadium, was the USA's seventh in a 10-game "Fan Tribute Tour" for the Olympic champions. The final three matches are against China, with the first on Dec. 8 at Ford Field in Detroit.

Franklin, Cordes notch wins

SWIMMING • Olympian Missy Franklin won the 200-yard backstroke for her third title and Kevin Cordes set an American record in winning the 200 breaststroke at the Winter Nationals in Austin, Texas.

Franklin, who finished second and third in her other races at the three-day meet, was timed in 1 minute, 49.18 seconds, just off the American record of 1:49.16 set by Elizabeth Pelton last year. Bonnie Brandon finished second in 1:51.49 and Kylie Stewart took third.

Cordes flirted with the American record in the morning preliminaries, and then blew it away by going 1:50.73 in the final. Olympian Clark Burckle took second in 1:51.20 and Mike Alexandrov, the former record holder, was third in 1:52.24.

Cordes set an American record in winning the 100 breast on Friday night, when he also beat the same two swimmers in the last major U.S. swim meet of the year at the University of Texas.

Olympian Katie Ledecky won the 1,650 freestyle in 15:28.36, the second-fastest time ever. Haley Anderson was second in 15:55.91 and Lindsay Vroom finished third.

In the 100 free, Margo Geer won her first national title in 47.16 seconds. Franklin, who was swimming about 12 minutes after winning the 200 back, was second in 47.60. Olivia Smoliga was third.

Olympian Matt Grevers won his second title in two days, taking the 100 free in 41.71. Joao De Lucca touched second in 42.05 and Olympian Ricky Berens was third.

Franklin won the meet's high point award for women, while Grevers and Ryan Murphy tied for the men's award. Grevers won the performance award for his American-record time in the 100 backstroke Friday.

Red Sox ready for meetings

baseball • Boston Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington is heading to baseball's winter meetings in Nashville with his pockets bulging from the $250 million he saved in the deal that sent Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Spending all that money might be the hard part. In an off-year for big-ticket free agents, the Red Sox will probably not be able to rebuild last year's 93-loss fiasco into a contender just from the players on this year's market. Right-hander Zack Greinke and outfielder Josh Hamilton are expected to be the biggest prizes when baseball's annual winter bazaar opens in Nashville, Tenn., on Monday.

"It's not difficult to find things to spend it on. It's difficult to find the right things to spend it on," Cherington said at the Red Sox holiday festival at Fenway Park on Saturday. "Maybe there are fewer of those [high-profile free agents] than in other years. Maybe it doesn't feel like last offseason. But there will still be headlines; there will still be deals."

From wire reports