By Ryan Songalia
Kermit Cintron and Paul Williams have faced three common opponents in their respective careers: Antonio Margarito, Sergio Martinez and Walter Matthysse. All of Cintron’s three career blemishes (two knockout defeats to Margarito and a draw with Martinez) have come against men that Williams has defeated. Both men stopped Matthysse.
Luckily for Cintron, “triangle theories” mean little in boxing.
Just as Miguel Cotto lost to Margarito but defeated Margarito’s conqueror, Shane Mosley, styles dictate the way fights play out. Cintron, a former welterweight titlist, is well aware of the inconsistent track records such equations hold.
“It's different,” says Cintron, 32-2-1 (28 knockouts). “It doesn't matter if I had lost to Margarito twice and Martinez had lost to Williams, but I had a draw with Martinez and Williams beat Margarito. Every fight is different.”
Cintron’s 154-pound clash against Williams this Saturday night at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. – which airs live on HBO’s “World Championship Boxing” (9:45 PM ET/6:45 PT) – is the next act in a rollercoaster career that has seen more plot twists than a Floyd Mayweather fight negotiation.
After Cintron failed to avenge his initial defeat to Margarito, falling to a sixth round body shot in their 2008 rematch, it appeared his run as a top fighter had come to an end. Like Earnie Shavers discovered against Tex Cobb, Cintron found out that his power alone would not get the job done against top competition.
Cintron had reeled off five consecutive knockout wins prior to that encounter, including an IBF welterweight title-winning performance against Mark Suarez. It was perhaps telling of his chances in the Margarito rematch that assistant trainer Joey Gamache was in his corner that night instead of head trainer Emanuel Steward.
Clearly needing a facelift, Cintron hooked up with trainer Ronnie Shields and signed with promoter DiBella Entertainment. Promoter Lou DiBella realized that he had a fighter who many felt was ruined, but he gambled on the wild card.
“I’m a firm proponent of looking at fighters that people look at as damaged goods, or guys that have a lot of talent but others are starting to give up on,” says the New York-based DiBella. “Kermit's only losses at the time I signed him were to Margarito, and frankly, who knows what kind of advantages Margarito was taking in those fights? I think Kermit has shown pretty well since then.”
After a single tune-up against Lovemore N'Dou, Cintron stepped up against then-interim junior-middleweight champ Sergio Martinez on two weeks notice. Despite being clearly out-boxed early and arguably knocked out in the seventh round, Cintron finished the fight strong to “salvage” a draw.
That same Martinez has since given Williams a life-and-death struggle and upset Kelly Pavlik last month to wrest the middleweight crown away.
While the Martinez fight at the time did little to sway Cintron detractors, his next fight three months later against the unbeaten Alfredo Angulo turned more than a few heads. Cintron combined his heavy-handed power with effective movement and boxing technique to out-box and out-duel network darling Angulo, handing him his first defeat. Cintron is the first to credit his new trainer for these new wrinkles to his style.
“It showed in the Angulo fight how much more I've improved working with Ronnie Shields,” Cintron said. “With [original trainer Marshall Kauffman], I was more of a come-forward type fighter. I was sitting on my punches a lot more, and I was able to knock people out.
“At the same time, I felt that my skills weren’t improving, so that's why I went with Emmanuel Steward,” Cintron said. “For the four fights I was with Emmanuel Steward, I was learning from him, using my jab more. Now that I’m with Ronnie Shields, he’s trying to make me the complete fighter that I always wanted to be.”
Shields, who also trains Juan Diaz and Rocky Juarez, among others, says the path to rebuilding Kermit started by rebuilding him from the inside out. Cintron, who had been criticized as a mentally weak fighter by some, needed to be reborn through the psychological conditioning that comes from doing what is needed to be set up for success.
“I think with Kermit it was all mental, because he didn’t put himself through what he's going through now,” says Shields. “It’s all about what you do in that gym. Now he’s doing all the right things: He’s eating properly, sleeping properly, working hard and getting the rest he needs.”
Though Cintron still resides in his hometown of Reading, Pa., he relocates to Shields’ training facilities in Houston when it comes time to get ready for fight night. Shields says that hooking Cintron up with a conditioning coach was the missing component to his self-confidence.
“I got him with this guy Brian Caldwell; he really knows his stuff and does a good job with conditioning,” Shields says. “The first day he came down to me and we started working, I put him through some really hard workouts. He’d never worked that hard before. Now it’s easy for him. He's not killing himself, because he knows he’s in shape.”
Cintron, a former amateur wrestler, describes his work with Caldwell this way: “I go through hell with him everyday.
“It’s not fun, and it shouldn’t be fun,” Cintron says. After I’m done with the workouts, I’m just like, ‘Man, I’m real glad I did that tough workout today.’ Going through it, I’m mad as hell, but it’s something I have to do.”
Cintron feels that his training environment has been healthy for his emotional growth as a fighter. It affords him the opportunity to leave the distractions of home life behind and focus instead on being a professional boxer.
“I just think that training here in Houston, there’s other fighters down here that are really focused on their boxing, and that helps a lot,” Cintron said. “I come down here to train and to be focused, and being around other fighters that are working hard in the gym rubs off and makes me want to train harder. I don’t go through the motions. I give it 120 percent in the gym.”
Says Shields: “Kermit listens to me, and that's all I ask from any fighter. Just listen to what I’m telling you, and everything will be fine.”
Exile From Primetime Networks
“I didn’t really understand that.”
That's what Lou DiBella had to say regarding Kermit Cintron being snubbed by HBO after he Angulo. While Angulo went on to face Harry Joe Yorgey two fights later on HBO (five months after the Cintron defeat), Cintron lingered on the sidelines, fighting unheralded trial horse Juliano Ramos five months later on Broadway Boxing, stopping him in five.
“Honestly, I think [Angulo] has gotten away with some easy touches, and I'm not all that impressed with Joel Julio, either,” DiBella says of Angulo’s most recent opponent. “With that being said, Angulo has got a good style for TV. I don’t blame them [HBO] for sticking with Angulo, but it’s a little unfair that Kermit had to wait. This is a great opportunity that he’s getting, and a little bit of patience paid off.”
In the year since they met, Cintron has fought just once while Angulo has fought three times.
That said, while the Ramos fight did little to increase Cintron’s overall exposure, it did fulfill a career dream of his – fighting at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Cintron was born just outside of there, in Carolina, Puerto Rico, but he had never fought there as a professional. While swaying the networks would take time, DiBella made the effort to keep his client happy.
“I lost some money, but it was a lifelong dream of his to fight there,” DiBella says. “He also needed to be active. He got a lot of love there, so I was happy to give him that opportunity.”
Though Cintron is not considered an adored local son by Puerto Ricans in the way Felix Trinidad and Miguel Cotto are, DiBella is still optimistic that continued success will lead to Cintron finding a permanent home in their hearts. DiBella plans to organize a promotional trip to Puerto Rico for Cintron should he emerge victorious over Williams.
Business At Hand
“Paul Williams is a good fighter, and I feel I’m a good fighter as well,” Cintron says. “I feel good about this fight. I’ve been training very hard for it, and I’m expecting to win the fight.”
This are confident words from Cintron, who at just short of 6-feet is still a few inches shorter than Williams, who is listed at 6-foot-2 but is believed to be slightly taller.. Williams also throws many more punches: Cintron threw 534 total punches over 12 rounds against Martinez, compared to Williams’ tally of 979.
Cintron's big advantage, however, comes in the heaviness of his hands. Fans only need to recount his frightening destruction of Matthysse in 2007 as evidence.
“Paul Williams is a guy that throws a lot of punches," says Shields. “At some points [Cintron’s] going to have to box him, but at some points Kermit is going to have to back him up and make him fight his fight. I don’t want to give away what we’re going to do, but at some point he’s going to have to slow the fight down a little bit. Whether that’s at the beginning or end, I’m not divulging that part.”
With Shields, Cintron has a renewed sense of self-belief that wasn’t always apparent in recent years.
“I feel like I’m in the top three at 154 pounds,” Cintron says. “I feel I’m in a good position now, especially fighting Paul Williams. That’s the whole reason I’m fighting him, because I’m in a good position where I can fight big name fighters.”
Coincidentally, Cintron's one conqueror, Margarito, is also fighting the same night in Mexico against unknown Roberto Garcia – on an independent pay-per-view far away from the primetime networks. It's funny how boxing works sometimes. -RS
BWAA Dinner June 5 in NYC
Of all the events penciled in on my calendar this summer (most of them located in Seaside Heights or Wildwood, NJ), the Boxing Writers Association of Americas 85th Annual Awards Dinner on June 5 has to highlight my list this coming season. I'm in my second year of membership with the organization but will be attending the dinner for the first time. Now all I need to do is figure out which tie goes best with my new light blue tuxedo (I jest).
Honorees include Manny Pacquiao, the BWAA's choice for "Fighter of the Decade" as well as "Fighter of the Year, "Trainer of the Year" Freddie Roach and "Broadcaster of the Year" Joe Tessitore of ESPN2.
Tickets priced at $200 can be purchased at the BWAA website www.bwaa.org . Cocktail hour begins at 6:00 PM. Dinner and Awards begin at 7:30 PM.
And yes, I am of legal age to enjoy the cocktail hour.
Ryan Songalia is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. An archive of his work can be found at www.ryansongalia.com . You can also follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/ryansongalia . He can be contacted at ryan@ryansongalia.com .
