14.04.08 – By James Slater, photo by Chris Farina – TopRank – Last night’s rematch between Kermit Cintron and the only man to ever beat him in Antonio Margarito did not disappoint. A quite incredible battle saw the Mexican tough guy (an understatement) finish off the brave Cintron with a wicked left to the body in round number 6. The time was 1 minute and 57 seconds, and Margariro is now the new IBF welterweight king.
Both men came right out at the opening bell and went to war. This was not a fight for the purists, but, wow, was it great to see. Cintron, one of the hardest punchers in boxing, teed off on the rock-hard head of Margarito in this round, rights in particular exploding on the Mexican. But, as before, Margarito went nowhere. The noise of the crowd was deafening, and a savage shootout was well underway..
In round 2, the action reached Hagler-Hearns proportions. Margarito looked the boss for me here, and the brutality was beginning to mount – for Cintron mostly. Some really solid body shots thudded home for Margarito, who also picked up a small cut over his left eye – probably from a clash of heads.
The 3rd saw more great two-way action, but it appeared as though Margarito, though he was taking some killer shots, was gaining the advantage. As bombs were flying and mostly landing from both warriors, Cintron complained to the referee Earl Brown about rabbit punches and left himself open. Was this a first sign of the fight having got to him mentally?
In the 4th, Margarito was definitely getting on top. He’d taken Cintron’s best shots – amazingly without even blinking! – and he was grinding his man down now. Cintron was looking marked up now, with swelling forming around his right eye.
Cintron let go with some more bombs in the 5th, and again the amazing warrior from Mexico took them all. The pace was gruelling and all of a sudden Cintron looked really busted up – a bad cut pouring blood over his damaged right eye. Under heavy pressure, Cintron bent over to escape from the onslaught – a tactic he’d been employing tonight – and referee Brown warned Margarito for hitting the back of Cintron’s head. The Mexican looked furious, but won the round for me. Cintron had definitely been badly hurt and the ending seemed to be closing in for him.
Sure enough, the end came in round 6. Cintron tried to box, but Margarito soon had him hurt again and stuck on the ropes. Then, with his man trapped, Margarito struck with a savage left to Kermit’s midsection and down he went. Badly hurt, he had no chance of beating the count. The fight was over and once again Antonio Margarito had proven too tough, too resilient and just too damn hard-headed for Kermit Cintron.
King Tony is back atop the boxing world, and improves to 36-5(26). While the beaten up Cintron, who looked devastated by the loss, falls to 29-2(27). Both men deserve enormous credit for the thrilling fight they gave us. This was one of the best slugfests seen in quite a while!