International Boxing Federation welterweight champion Kermit Cintron (28-1, 26 KOs) defends his title in a stay busy fight against tough club fighter-type Jesse Feliciano (15-5-3, 9 KOs) on Saturday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Cintron, 28, is making his first defense since stopping top Argentinian welterweight prospect Walter Matthysse, who Cintron blasted out in the 2nd round in July.
With a huge big money unification bout on the near horizon against World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Paul Williams on February 2nd, Cintron isn’t going to take any chances by risking it against a top fighter. In that respect, Feliciano, 25, doesn’t figure to give Cintron any trouble. Known as a tough fighter with moderate power, Feliciano doesn’t have much of a chin, having been stopped against Mohamad Abdulaev, Mike Arnaoutis, and Demetrius Hopkins, all having occurred in the past three years. Based on this, it will be a miracle if Feliciano escapes the first round because he’s going to be taking some serious shots.
That’s not to say that Cintron is a world beater, because as a fighter, he’s pretty much one dimensional and is arguably the weakest of the welterweight champions. Even with a winner over Feliciano on Saturday night, Cintron doesn’t figure to hold his IBF title for much longer, given the fact that he’s facing Paul Williams in his next bout. Williams appears to be in a higher class than Cintron, already having beaten a previous Cintron conquerer Antonio Margarito in July.
Cintron, however, was torn apart by Margarito, losing a 5th round TKO in 2005. The fight was even remotely competitive, as Margarito had his way from the outset. Much is made of the fact that Cintron is trained by legendary trainer Emanuel Steward, but that’s not likely to make a bit a difference against a fighter as good as Williams.
For his part, Feliciano is a tough fighter and if he can stay away from serious exchanges in the early rounds, it’s possible he can get Cintron into the later rounds, and perhaps connect with something big on his tender chin. Certainly Feliciano is a better overall fighter than Cintron, but he’ll have to stay away from his monstrous power early on in order to show it.
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