By Richard Rodriguez: Former WBA welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (32-1, 26 KOs) has recently expressed interest in fighting former IBF welterweight champion Kermit Cintron, saying that he’d be interested in a fight with Cintron. Cotto also said that he’s interested in fighting a rematch with Antonio Margarito, who recently defeated him by an 11th round TKO. That, however, isn’t likely an option for his next fight, though, for it’s doubtful that his promoter would allow him to take such a dangerous fight after coming off such a punishing fight as the last one against Margarito.
Cotto, 27, is still arguably the most marketable fighter in the welterweight division and remains largely untarnished from his defeat at the hands of Margarito. Though Cotto took a knee twice, he’s not taken a lot of heat from it due the huge amount of punishment he had absorbed up until then. Cintron, 28, also was taken out by Margarito, getting stopped in the 6th round of a one-sided fight in April 2008. Unable to match the high punch volume of Margarito, Cintron was ultimately buried with punches in the 6th round and taken out.
However, he remains one of the hardest punchers in the welterweight division, and would be a very tough opponent for Cotto given the fact that he’s coming off of such a hard fight. Cintron, like I said, is in the same bag coming off of a defeat to Margarito as well. Because of that, it would be a hard fight to predict what would happen.
Certainly, Cotto has the better boxing skills, the better accuracy, movement and defense, but his chin is less study, and has shown a history of being hurt against big sluggers like Cintron. In terms of power, Cotto would be going to the head of the class if he were to choose the equally shaky-chinned Cintron, and the fight could turn out to be a case of who got to who first. If Cotto is still feeling the effects of his brutal war with Margarito, Cintron, with his immense punching power in both hands, would be the one to bring it out.
Cotto would get hit a lot with some big shots before he could land the money punch to get Cintron out of there, and if Cotto’s chin is no longer up to the mark, then we could be seeing an early night for Cintron. It’s a good comeback fight for Cotto, though, because boxing fans will respect him for taking on such a tough opponent and would show a great interest in seeing this fight, knowing that it will probably turn out to be a vicious war.
Cintron has the kind of power that can end a fight with one punch, and unlike other power punchers, he holds his power through 12 full rounds. Cotto couldn’t go directly at him, because he’s probably too small and weak in the chin to take the kind of monster shots that Cintron will be throwing at him. For that reason, I expect that if the fight does come off, Cotto will likely use a combination of movement and clinching to try and slow the action down and keep Cintron from landing something big.