Cintron Ignores the Critics!

April 8, 2008

By Marc Lichtenfeld

Photo: Jeff Julian

IBF Welterweight champ Kermit Cintron is not easy to label.

He is a devoted family man with the nickname "Killer".

He is a fighter who shrugs off criticism, yet is keenly aware of what people say about him.

And he has got the confidence to take on Antonio Margarito, the only man to beat him as a pro, despite a mega-fight with Miguel Cotto at Yankee Stadium looming on the horizon.

The rematch with Margarito takes place this Saturday as the chief event supporting the Miguel Cotto - Alfonso Gomez showdown in Atlantic City, NJ.

Margarito stopped Cintron in the fifth round in April 2005. It was a brutal beatdown in which Cintron was cut over the right eye in the third round, knocked down twice in the fourth round and twice in the fifth round until the referee mercifully stopped the action.

This time Cintron says we'll see a very different fighter against Margarito.

"First of all, now I'm trained by Emanuel Steward," he says, leaving the weighty implications of the statement up to the listener.

Cintron became a fan favorite in after a war with David Estrada (April 2006). The fight with Estrada was declared an "instant classic" and a candidate for ESPN "Fight of the Year."

Blowing out Mark Suarez (October 2006) to win the IBF welterweight title further brightened his star power in many people's eyes.

But boxing fans can be fickle.

After he struggled with tough but average Jesse Feliciano (November 2007), fans and media began to wonder if Cintron really belonged among the elite fighters that make up the top of the talent rich division.

Even when it became clear that Cintron had suffered a serious injury to his right hand in his title defense against Feliciano, Cintron received criticism rather than credit for fighting hurt. "No matter what you do there's always someone criticizing you," he says.

Editor's Note: Cintron suffered severe ligament damage to his right hand in the first round of his contest against Feliciano but despite the intense pain, he battled on before stopping his granite-chinned opponent with a two-fisted barrage at the 1:53 mark of the tenth round.

Does the criticism bother him?

"I knew what was going on in the ring," he states. "All the criticism by people on the outside, they didn't know what the hell is going on. It's hard to fight with one hand, especially a guy like Feliciano who keeps coming forward."

Cintron's confidence level has increased from training with Steward.

In the Feliciano fight, he dutifully carried out Steward's instructions, which kept him out of too much trouble and eventually got him the win.

He elaborates, "When he wanted me on the inside, I went inside. When he wanted me on the outside, I boxed from the outside. Before the tenth, he told me to outbox him and look for the check hook and that's exactly what I did. I boxed him and caught him coming in with the check hook."

Although Margarito's star has fallen since losing to Paul Williams, many believe he is the wrong fight for Cintron at the wrong time.

But Cintron is a fighter!

Give him credit for that at least.

He wants the one guy who has beaten him, even if it puts a big money fight at risk. It's a gamble that may pay off.

If he wins, he has to be considered one of the top three or four guys at 147 pounds, making the Cotto fight that much more interesting.

A victory over Margarito would also likely stop the criticism, not that Cintron would care.

Marc Lichtenfeld is the host of Through The Ropes, a nationally syndicated radio show that airs each Thursday from 9:00 pm thru 10:00 pm ET on 75 affiliates of the Sports Byline USA Broadcast Network, including great radio stations like KSHP 1400 AM in Las Vegas and WNSR 560 AM in Nashville. Marc Lichtenfeld is also a ring announcer and will announce the non-televised undercard of this Saturday's Showtime Championship Boxing double-header featuring WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson battling former world champ Glen Johnson plus IBF light heavyweight champion Clinton Woods defending his title against IBO titleholder and former undisputed 175-pound kingpin Antonio Tarver at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Fla.