With Foreman clearly in pain from a leg injury, his corner threw in the towel, but the referee did not see who had thrown it and ordered a restart.
"I felt bad for him but you have to keep on fighting," said Cotto.
The Puerto Rican is now a three-class champion, having been welterweight and light-welterweight champion before.
He improved his record to 35-2, with his 28th stoppage win, while Israeli Foreman suffered his first defeat, in his first defence of the title he won last November with a unanimous decision over Daniel Santos.
Foreman, Israel's first world champion, wore a knee brace from the start to the fight to protect an old injury, but after he slipped twice in the seventh round, he was clearly in great discomfort and had limited mobility.
"It was a lot of pain, very sharp pain," he said afterwards.
"I'm world champion, now former world champion. We're not quitting. We're world champion and we need to fight."
Referee Arthur Mercante Jr defended the chaotic end to the fight and paid tribute to Foreman's spirit.
"The towel came in during the heat of the battle," he said.
"I didn't know where it came from. There was no need to stop the fight. They were in the middle of a great fight.
"I saw he [Foreman] was game - the true heart of a champion."
Cotto was glad to get back to winning ways after losses to Antonio Margarito and Manny Pacquiao.
"I think I proved this night to everybody who said 'Cotto is finished' that everybody has failed," Cotto said.
"I'm happy with my performance and we had worked on a lot of things we did tonight and I think it showed."
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