Arum thinking of matching Cintron with Pacquiao and Cotto

By Boxing News - 04/22/2011 - Comments

By Chris Williams: After signing former IBF welterweight champion Kermit Cintron (32-3-1, 28 KO’s) to a contract with Top Rank, Bob Arum is now thinking about matching the 31-year-old Cintron with his two biggest stars in his Top Rank stable Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto.

Arum said this in an interview at examiner.com: “He [Cintron] may be a good opponent for Manny Pacquiao. Cintron says he can make 147…And an all Puerto Rican fight with Cotto. It’s a good Madison Square Garden fight.”

It seems like a bad idea because Cintron has looked horrible in defeats to Antonio Margarito in the past, and was incredibly lucky not to have been beaten by Sergio Martinez in 2009 when Cintron talked his way out of a knockout loss after being dropped by Martinez. In his last fight, Cintron fell out of the ring in a fight with Paul Williams and was injured and needed to be carried away on a stretcher. The Williams, Martinez and Margarito fights have left Cintron a less than popular fighter with many boxing fans. Arum might not realize that and could be thinking that a Cintron-Cotto or Cintron-Pacquiao would be a big fight. I don’t agree. Cintron isn’t well known with casual boxing fans and the hardcore boxing fans have mixed feelings about him. At any rate, Arum will have one shot to match Cintron against Cotto or Pacquiao because I see Cintron getting wiped out by either of them.

If Arum wants to match Cintron with Pacquiao or Cintron, Arum needs to let those fights marinate more by at least waiting until Cintron has redeemed himself in the eyes of boxing fans by taking on and beating some quality fighters without some mishap in the ring. We don’t want to see Cintron going down from a shot and then convincing the referee that it was from a headbutt instead of a punch. He also needs to stay in the ring and not go flying out of it and getting hurt. I’d like to see Cintron fight and beat some quality fighters without some kind of drama going on. If Arum throws Cintron in with Pacquiao or Cotto right now, he won’t likely get nearly as much PPV money as he would if Cintron were to pick up a half dozen good wins to build up his name. Arum needs to put Cintron in with Joshua Clottey, Alfredo Angulo for a rematch, Paul Williams rematch, Mike Jones and Margarito rematch. If Cintron can win all those fights, which I highly doubt, then I say put him in with Cotto or Pacquiao. My guess is Cintron would lose to most if not all of those fighters. There’s no point in Cintron fighting Cotto or Pacquiao if he can’t beat Margarito [he’s lost twice by knockouts to him], Jones, Williams and proven that he can beat Angulo twice. I’d also like to see Cintron back in with Sergio Martinez but with a different referee working the fight.



Comments are closed.