By Jason Kim: Recently spurned WBA welterweight champion Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KO’s) may finally have an opponent to fill his next date, because light middleweight contender Kermit Cintron is reportedly interested in fighting Mosley. The 37-year-old Mosley has been trying repeatedly to line up a fight with Manny Pacquiao in the past month, doggedly pursuing a fight with the Filipino star and agreeing to everything under the sun to line up a fight with. Pacquiao.
However, Pacquiao opted for what appears to be an easier fight against World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Miguel Cotto, who has been struggling off and on since last year. Cintron, 29, was given up for dead for some boxing fans after a 12-round majority draw with Sergio Martinez in Feb 2009.
Cintron appeared to have been knocked out in the fight in the 9th but pleaded that he had been hit with a head butt and was allowed to continue. Cintron rebounded in his last fight, beating light middleweight contender Alfredo Angulo by a 12 round unanimous decision in May. The victory revived Cintron’s stalling career.
With the Pacquiao fight off the table for lack interest on Manny’s part, Mosley was looking at fighting Andre Berto, the WBC welterweight champion. That would seem like the preferable fight for Mosley, because Berto has a title, an entertaining fighting style and is inexperienced against top level opposition.
That would seem like a better fight for Mosley, because Cintron doesn’t have a title to offer him. However, it’s unclear whether Berto wants to fight him. Mosley is a dangerous fighter and Berto has it really good as the WBC champion, because his top 15 opposition is very weak, and he could possibly hold onto his title for a long time before there’s a fighter good enough to threaten him.
As for Cintron, I think Mosley would beat him without too many problems. Cintron struggled against Angulo and Martinez. I personally had Cintron losing both of those fights and don’t feel he did enough to win. Mosley is too fast and too skilled defensively to be bothered by Cintron’s big power shots.
I still think it would be an interesting fight but in the end, I see Mosley winning the fight. I doubt Mosley will take the fight, however, because Cintron doesn’t have anything to offer him in terms of a title. Cintron is popular, but not in the same way as Pacquiao.
That’s who Mosley really wants to fight and is hoping that Pacquiao looks his way after dealing with Cotto and possibly Floyd Mayweather Jr. Cintron needs the Mosley fight more than Mosley needs him, because now that Cintron has moved up to the light middleweight division, he no doubt has discovered that this weight class has even less stars than the welterweight division.
There’s some good fighters, like Paul Williams, Sergei Dzinziruk, Vernon Forrest and James Kirkland, but no big stars at this time. Mosley would be doing Cintron a big favor by fighting him but it wouldn’t do all that much for Mosley in terms of giving him a huge payday.
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