On August 20, 1909, Attell defeated Percy Cove in a title bout and retained the world bantamweight championship in a tenth-round technical knockout before a packed house at the Mission Athletic Club in San Francisco. A left drive to the jaw in the tenth round put Cove against the ropes and nearly helpless in the tenth, though he had fought valiantly in the early rounds. By the third round, Attell was connecting hooks to the stomach of Cove and getting under his attempts to block, though Cove's considerable advantage in reach and height served him well in the first two rounds. In the remaining rounds, Attell used blows to the stomach, followed by lefts to the face to even the match and take a lead in points. Cove's left knocked down Attell once in the second, but Attell's advantage in the remaining rounds took the starch out of Cove's blows.