By James Slater: Scroll down a few articles on this website, and you will read the news that former IBF welterweight champion Kermit Cintron has just been signed by DiBella Boxing. Still ambitious and hungry, the 28-year-old who was born in Puerto Rico believes he can once again become champion of the world.
Much the subject of harsh criticism lately, Cintron is a fighter who has been forced to take his share, and then some, of negativity from fight fans and experts alike. But is this negativity justified? Yes, Cintron has been stopped twice, but on both occasions the TKO and the KO he suffered came at the hands of one man – the incredible Antonio Margarito. The question does arise, could anyone else do what “Tony” did? No, not beat Cintron, but take the amazing amount of hard punches he did before doing so.
It just may be, Margarito aside, that there is no 147-pounder out there capable of taking a flush Kermit Cintron shot on the chin without being seriously hurt or going down. Sure, “The Killer” has his flaws, but being able to hit like a mule is not one of them. Had it not been for “Tony’s” astonishing chin, the Mexican warrior may not have been able to do to Cintron what he has done twice. Could Paul Williams take the full-blooded shots to the head Margarito took from Cintron without flinching? How about Joshua Clottey?
I think Kermit’s career is far from the washed up failure many fans seem to think it is. These same fans have questioned the 28-year-old’s heart and mental toughness – perhaps with good cause. But the fact is, Cintron holds an equaliser in his mitts that can erase anything else he may be lacking – be that a good chin or the sheer mental fortitude of a man like Margarito. But will the devastating equaliser the 29-2(27) Cintron holds be enough to take him back to being an alphabet champion one day soon? I think it might.
Remember the sensational stoppages Cintron scored against men like Teddy Reid and Walter Matthysse? Well, Kermit can score more of those type of wins; if he’s put in with the right opponent. Quite simply, if Cintron avoids all physical contact with Antonio Margarito (as he surely will) he can come again. Who, for instance, would bet their house on either of the aforementioned fighters, Williams and Clottey, beating Kermit? Would the still (relatively) untested Andre Berto risk a fight with the man who packs a wallop like a middleweight? Probably not, for obvious reasons!
The point is, any fighter that is as fast as Cintron, as marketable (still) and, above all, who hits as hard, must be given the chance to prove himself against any fighter whose last name doesn’t sound remarkably similar to that of a cocktail. Get him back in the mix of things in the currently red-hot welterweight division, and Kermit Cintron may well turn some heads again – both figuratively and literally!