RSSMark Suarez
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Cintron Halts Suarez; Grabs IBF Welterweight Strap
This time around was a little better for Kermit Cintron…
Cintron stopped Mark Suarez in the fifth round on Saturday night and won the IBF Welterweight Championship, the same belt that was vacated by Floyd Mayweather Jr. earlier this year.
Cintron and Suarez delivered exactly the way many thought they would - with an all-out slugfest. The first round was one for the ages as both men were throwing nothing but absolute bombs.
However as the fight progressed, Cintron began to out-move Suarez, beating him to the punch and displaying an impressive amount of stamina.
It was in the fifth round that Cintron really began to take control of the fight. Swift combinations kept Suarez off-balance. His legs began to wobble and Suarez went down to a knee in order to attempt to gain his composure.
When he returned to his feet, receiving permission from the referee to continue, he was met with a heavy flurry of punches that pushed him against the ropes and forced the referee to stop the bout.
After the fight Cintron’s promoter, Bobby Bostick, stated that he was currently talking with officials tied with Arturo Gatti about a possible meeting in the near future between his fighter and the legendary welterweight…
Friday, October 27, 2006
Another Chance for Glory
Kermit Cintron has been in ths position before - on the verge of claiming championship gold for the first time. Cintron took on WBO Welterweight title holder Antonio Margarito in April of last year. It was a fight that was expected to be an all-out war and it was supposed to be a real chance for a Cintron victory.
Instead Cintron was knocked down four times in the first five rounds and the fight was stopped in order to save Cintron from any further damage.
More than a year has now passed - Cintron has won two fights in a row and is in position to claim gold once again when he takes on Mark Suarez for the vacant IBF Welterweight Championship this Saturday night.
Cintron can still recall the brutal loss to Margarito last April:
“It wasn’t a good time for me to fight. I should have not taken the fight. But my old management team was pushing it, and it just wasn’t my night.”
“Physically I was there, mentally I wasn’t,” Cintron said. “It was one of those days when I was just not in the fight. I forgot that I was in a world title fight. So my trainer just decided to stop the fight, because he knew I wasn’t going to win and he didn’t want me to get hurt.”
Cintron was coming off major hand surgery and personal problems going into the fight with Margarito. Many say that he should have had a fight before a title shot in order to try out his newly repaired right hand - unfortunately they were right.
His management team’s bad decision cost them their jobs and Cintron hired the legendary Emanuel Steward to be by his side…
“Manny and I clicked from Day One,” he said. “Basically, working with him, he’s changed some stuff about me. Before, I would just go in there and bang. He’s got me boxing more, he’s worked on my footwork, my balance, he’s worked on my combinations, when to throw, when not to throw. It’s been good. I needed a trainer like Emanuel Steward to get to the next level, and now I have the opportunity to take that step.”
With his confidence back and the past behind him, Cintron is ready and determined to make this title shot worth while this time around. What is probably considered the lowest point in his young career has now become a source of motivation:
“I can say that I will never take a big fight—especially after hand surgery and a nine-month layoff—on four months’ training. [But] I know now how it feels, being in a world title fight.”
“My mind is on this fight like it’s a rematch of the Margarito fight,” Cintron said. “It’s like he’s giving me a second chance, and I’m going to take it.”
Interesting things of note: Shane Mosley and Calvin Brock were actually on the undercard of the Cintron-Margarito title fight last spring - That’s one hell of a card in my opinion…
Also for those who trying to find out how to order the PPV and are having trouble - It will be broadcast on Maxboxing.com. Click this link to order...
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Thursday, July 20, 2006
Kermit Gets Title Shot
Kermit Cintron’s promoter, Bobby Bostick has announced that Cintron will take on Mark Suarez for the vacant IBF welterweight belt later this year.