By Rick Reeno
Former welterweight champion Kermit Cintron is back in the gym, going through the early motions for a November ring return. With only two defeats on his record, both to Antonio Margarito (no shame in that), Cintron is still a player in the welterweight ranks.
About two-weeks ago, promoter Lou DiBella, who recently signed Cintron, told BoxingScene.com that he would like to match Kermit against another former welterweight champion from Puerto Rico, Miguel Cotto. The press in Puerto Rico picked up on the story and several reporters from island questioned Cotto on a potential Cintron fight, since Miguel is also targeting a ring return in the fall. Cotto said it would be "a pleasure" to fight another former champion like Cintron, but the final decision would be up to his promoters, Top Rank.
When Cintron fought Margarito for the second time in April, the winner was also guaranteed a shot at Cotto. Margarito stopped Cintron in six-rounds after a crushing hook to the body, and went on to stop Cotto within eleven-rounds last month in Las Vegas.
Speaking with BoxingScene.com, Cintron said he would love to fight Cotto in the near future. The first order of business is a tune-up to test out the durability of his healed right hand. Cintron had surgery on his right thumb in May. The tune-up is scheduled to fall on the untelevised portion of the HBO card on November 15, featuring Jermain Taylor vs. Jeff Lacy in the main event.
“The fight does make sense. That's the fight that should of happened, Cintron against Cotto, I just didn't do my part in the ring. We both lost to Margarito and we both want to get back into title contention,” Cintron said. “I’m coming back from a hand injury, with surgery and I want to a tune-up fight before anything like that happens. I’m definitely interested, but the money has to be right as well. They cant just pay us pennies. If the money is not right, it wont happen.”
The second time around with Margarito, Cintron found success from the outside, but was unable to maintain the distance and avoid the non-stop incoming plunder from Margarito. Cintron was pretty honest about the way the fight played out.
“There were times you had to bang with him. On the outside, it was easy, but he does a good job of cutting the ring off. He throws a lot of punches at all times so it’s hard to keep yourself on the outside. At times, being a puncher, I thought I might hurt him if I banged with him, but that wasn’t the case. I didn’t stick to boxing [him],” Cintron said.
Margarito is usually a slow starter, yet he came out like lighting against Cintron. It was something Cintron did not anticipate. Ironically, Margarito would once again start slow in his following bout against Cotto. Cintron was one of the few Puerto Rican fighters (if not the only) to publicly pick Margarito to beat Cotto.
“I didn’t think he would start that fast. He threw like 50 punches in the first 45-seconds. I was surprised that he started the fight so slow [against Cotto]. After fighting for fourteen-years as a pro, it’s his time. He is in his prime and on a roll. I knew from the second fight with him, that he wasn’t going to lose [with Cotto]. The way he started with me, if knew if he started like with anyone else they were going to lose,” Cintron said.
“Those guys are not used to that pressure at that pace. I knew eventually he would catch Cotto. Cotto is a great fighter, but I knew eventually he would lose from the pressure. They say Margarito is one of the biggest punchers in the welterweight division, but I don’t think so. I just think [him] throwing 130-punches per round is what slows you down and then he stops you.”
Margarito is tentatively scheduled to fight Joshua Clottey in a rematch on November 1. He beat Clottey back in 2006, and Cintron is picking Margarito to obtain the same result with a repeat performance in the rematch.
Cintron's opponent for November 15 has not been set.
