By Dan Ambrose: Former IBF welterweight champion Kermit Cintron (32-4-1, 28 KO’s) will be facing fringe welterweight contender Antwone Smith (20-2-1, 12 KO’s) on August 12th, according to boxing news from Dan Rafael.

The fight will be ESPN2 FNF. Cintron, at one time a good fighter, has lost three out of his last seven fights. You can really count it as four out of his last seven fights, because Cintron’s 12 round draw with Sergio Martinez two years ago was hardly a win. That was a fight that should have gone down in the loss column for Cintron, and he didn’t pick up any fans with that effort.

Smith, 24, has faced largely 2nd tier opposition during his career. He did beat some decent fighters like Richard Gutierrez and Martinus Clay but that’s about it. If Cintron can’t beat a fighter like Smith then it’s really time for Cintron to hang up the gloves for good and retire. It’s a pity but that’s reality of the game. Cintron has been beaten by Paul Smith and Carlos Molina in his last two fights.

The Molina fight was especially bad, as Cintron was soundly beaten last week by a 10 round decision against someone he should have been able to beat. A win over Molina would have put Cintron on course for a fight against Manny Pacquiao and big money. Instead of that, Cintron gets to fight Smith on ESPN2.

Cintron still has good power but he doesn’t throw enough shots and his power isn’t consistent enough to take out the better fighters. If he can’t stop Smith then Cintron will be in dire straights.