Cintron Stops Feliciano

International Boxing Federation welterweight champion Kermit Cintron (29-1, 27 KOs) struggled badly tonight before stopping Jesse Feliciano in the 10th round of a scheduled 12-round bout at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Immediately after the fight was stopped by the referee Jon Schorle at 1:53 of the 10th, Cintron collapsed to the canvas clutching his right hand in pain. As it turns out, Cintron apparently injured his hand in the 1st round, though he showed no appearance of injury all fight long and was punching hard with his right all the way up to the time of his knockout.

Cintron, 28, looked unimpressive for most of the bout, and nothing like his championship form in earlier bouts. Though Cintron rocked Feliciano with a big right hand in the 1st round, he was unable to finish him off despite putting in a several wicked shots. Feliciano came on in the 2nd round, landing some excellent shots of his own and basically fighting Cintron to a standstill. It seemed incredible at the time because most boxing experts had given Feliciano little if any chance to defeat Cintron, but here he was giving him the fight of his life.

The biggest problem for Cintron, aside from his injury, was that he didn’t know how to fight on the inside, which is where Feliciano kept the fight. Instead of using his head, and stepping back and boxing, Cintron allowed the fight to be conducted at close quarters, even when it became obvious that it wasn’t working for him.

In the 10th round, Cintron finally woke up after being angered by Feliciano walking him back to his corner at the end of the 9th, and opened up with a barrage of punches, prompting for the referee to halt the bout. Immediately after the bout was stopped, Cintron fell to the canvas in agony, looking in great pain.