ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Miguel Cotto battered Alfonso Gomez for five rounds tonight to retain his WBA welterweight title and set up a fight with new IBF champion Antonio Margarito.

Earlier, Margarito dominated Kermit Cintron for the second time, then knocked him out in the sixth round to win the IBF crown at Boardwalk Hall.

Cotto had no trouble with the outmanned Gomez and ran his record to 32-0 with 26 knockouts when Dr. Mark Schaber stopped the fight after a lopsided fifth round. In that round, Gomez went down for the third time. Gomez's face was swollen almost from the first time the Puerto Rican star hit him in the mismatch.

By the end of the fifth, with the crowd chanting his name, Cotto was backing off, seeing that the one-time participant in "The Contender" TV show couldn't contend with his power and precision.

"I wanted to work and do it the right way," Cotto said of his fourth defense of the title he won here on Dec. 2, 2006, against Carlos Quintana.

In the third and fourth rounds alone, Cotto outlanded Gomez 108-23, and two of the knockdowns came on body shots. A straight left to the face late in the fifth provided the third knockdown, and Cotto landed 59 percent of his power punches.

"You always worry before you go into a fight," added Evangelista Cotto, the fighter's trainer and uncle, "but we knew we had the superior fighter. That was a real beating in there."

Evanglista Cotto reportedly has been feuding with his nephew and others in the Cotto camp. But there were nothing but smiles for all of them after this fight.

Gomez was disappointed he wasn't allowed to continue.

"The doctor said I couldn't see out of my right eye," he said.

It was a one-sided night in perhaps the strongest division in boxing, which also boasts WBC champion Floyd Mayweather. Gomez, of Mexico, never had a chance against the relentless Cotto and, surprisingly, Cintron put up almost no resistance against Margarito.

"They promised me Cotto and they'd better deliver," said Margarito, now 36-5 with 25 knockouts.

"I want to be prepared for anyone, especially Margarito," Cotto added.

Promoter Bob Arum has targeted July 26 for that bout.

Margarito handed Cintron the only previous loss of his career three years ago in the fifth round in a WBO championship bout. This time, the Mexican pummeled the champion from the opening bell, then ended the lopsided fight with a devastating left to the body at 1:57 of the sixth.

Margarito had a cut over his left eye for the last three rounds, but it never seemed to bother him. And he opened a cut under Cintron's left eye in the fifth. By that time, Cintron already was battered.

The fight ended quickly in the sixth after Margarito landed a dozen solid punches, then sent the uppercut directly into Cintron's ribs. The Reading, Pa., native, who was born in Puerto Rico and represented the island in the fight, went down on all fours and never came close to getting up.

"My hands were up high and he hit me with an uppercut and I couldn't breathe," said Cintron, 29-2. "I should have tried to box more and stayed on the outside, but I wanted to prove something.

"I'll be back."

Cintron had won five in a row by knockouts since the loss to Margarito, including beating Mark Suarez two years ago for the title Margarito took away in such strong fashion.

Margarito landed 207 power punches to only 89 for Cintron, and also landed 257 of 611 total punches (42 percent) to only 30 percent for Cintron.