On April 23, WBO Welterweight champion Antonio Margarito (31-4, 22 KOs) will face unbeaten WBO-Interim Welterweight Champion Kermit Cintron (24-0, 22 KOs) for the WBO 147 pound title.
This should be a very entertaining bout because of the explosive punching power and offensive styles both fighters possess. Having said that, I’m going to pick Mexican Antonio Margarito over the hard punching, KO sensation, Kermit Cintron, for a couple reasons.
Margarito recently moved up to 154 pounds and challenged WBO champion Daniel Santos. Unfortunately, the fight was stopped because of a cut caused by a clash of heads. It was a split decision victory for Santos, but not a convincing victory for the 154-pound champion. Santos stood his ground during the early part of the fight against the smaller challenger, but was soon convinced Margarito was the stronger of the two. Daniel Santos changed tactics and used his boxing skills in order to squeeze out this marginal victory.
In this loss, Margarito proved once again that he is a solid puncher with the gritty determination and strength to out-gun even larger opponents … but he can be out-boxed.
By contrast, Cintron won his last fight against Teddy Reid, but showed weaknesses in his style that might play into the hands of Margarito. Cintron started that fight with hard punches that seemed to indicate he would make quick work of Teddy Reid. However, Reid proved to be more resilient and began landing big punches of his own through Cintron’s poor defense. Kermit Cintron’s inexperience started to show, and seemed bewildered and tentative when Reid started to rally with his counterpunching. The fight seemed to sea-saw back and forth, despite Cintron winning most of the rounds. Ultimately, Cintron stopped Reid in the eighth round with a series of explosive punches.
It was a tremendous victory for Cintron, and perhaps the toughest test of his young career. At the end of the fight, Cintron became emotional during the interview. It was clear, Kermit Cintron was unprepared for that level of performance from an opponent and the stress had taken its toll. In victory, Cintron proved he is a world-class fighter, but also has the insecurity and inexperience of a young fighter.
I am a fan of Cintron, but I think fighting the tough veteran Margarito may be too-much-too-soon for this young prospect. This is a terrific match-up. I look for Antonio Margarito to win a hard fought late round stoppage over a bewildered Kermit Cintron.
--The Mighty Moe
This Las Vegas event will be an ESPN PPV, along with:
Juan Diaz vs. Ebo Elder (WBA 135),
Shane Mosley vs. David Estrada (147)
Jameel McCline vs. Calvin Brock (Hvy).
No comments:
Post a Comment