Unified lightweight world champion Nate “Galaxxy Warrior” Campbell (32-5-1, 25 KOs) gave a stern warning to International Boxing Federation No. 1-Ranked lightweight mandatory challenger Ali “Rush Hour” Funeka (30-1, 25 KOs) at a Don King-hosted press conference at BankAtlantic Center today promoting their Valentine’s Day meeting in South Florida.
Kermit Cintron
News: Vitali: Wlad will fight Haye in 2009; Martinez-Cintron On Feb 14th
Reigning WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko is confident that a fight between his brother Wladimir and British heavyweight contender David Haye will happen in the next 12 months.
Kermit Cintron Moving up to 154 To Fight Sergio Martinez
By Manuel Perez: Kermit Cintron (30-2, 27 KOs) will take on Sergio Martinez (44-1-1, 24 KOs) for the interim WBC light middleweight title on February 14th. The date was left open for Cintron after Joe Greene was unable to make the fight with Martinez due to kidney stones. Next, Daniel Santos stepped in but he needed more time to train, wanting to fight in March rather than February.
Cintron Decisions N’dou
By Aaron Klein: Former International Boxing Federation welterweight champion Kermit Cintron (30-2, 27 KOs) defeated former IBF light welterweight title holder Lovemore N’dou (46-11-1, 31 KOs) by a harder than expected 12-round unanimous decision on Saturday night in a IBF welterweight title eliminator at the Vanderbilt University Memorial Gymnasium, in Nashville, Tennessee.
Cotto vs. Cintron?
By Eric Thomas: In the latest boxing news, former IBF welterweight champion Kermit Cintron (29-2, 27 KOs) recently signed a promotional contractor with Lou DiBella. Cintron, now 28, is coming off a 6th round TKO to Antonio Margarito in April, a fight in which Cintron lost his IBF welterweight title to Margarito. The loss, his second to Margarito in three years, left the power-punching Cintron in another rebuilding stage for his career. He may have some help getting back on top, though, as his new promoter Dibella is highly interested in trying to land a fight with Miguel Cotto who, as it turns out, was also was defeated recently by Antonio Margarito, in a 11th round TKO loss on July 26th.
Although a fight between Cotto and Cintron wouldn’t be happening anytime soon, as Cintron will probably be resting up and licking his wounds for the remainder of 2008, but in 2009, he’ll be looking for a good comeback opponent to take on and Cintron, with his good reputation and excellent power, would seem like the ideal opponent for Cotto to comeback against. To be sure, this is a very dangerous opponent for Cotto, since he’s had problems against big punchers in his career, getting hurt by DeMarcus Corley, Ricardo Torres, Zab Judah, and most recently against Margarito. Of those fighters, none of them have the same kind of power that the knockout artist Cintron has, for he’s capable of ending a fight with one punch.
Cintron & Gomez: What Now?
By Peter Kurth: This last weekend was particularly hard on former IBF welterweight champion Kermit Cintron (29-2, 27 KOs) and former star from The Contender Alfonso Gomez (18-4-2, 8 KOs), both of which were destroyed by their opponents Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito.
Of the two, Gomez took the worse beating, but then again, he was never excepted to be very competitive in the first place, having been brought in largely for an easy payday for the WBA welterweight champion Cotto. Certainly Cotto deserved an easy fight after having fought Zab Judah and Shane Mosley in back to back fights, but there was hope by some that Gomez might have a sliver of a chance against Cotto.
Cintron-Margarito, Cotto-Gomez This Saturday
By Nate Anderson: This Saturday, unbeaten WBA welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (31-0, 25 KOs), will defend his title against former star from The Contender reality television show Alfonso Gomez (18-3-2, 8 KOs) at the Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey. On the other card, IBF welterweight champion Kermit Cintron (29-1, 27 KOs), will be defending his title against his former conqueror Antonio Margarito (35-5, 25 KOs), who stopped him in a 5th round TKO in April 2005.
Most fans are eager to see both fights, in particular the Cotto-Gomez fight, although that fight figures to be more of a one-sided fight given the talent gulf separating the undefeated Cotto and Gomez. However, anything is possible as Gomez, 27, is fighting at the best in his short career and is capable of pulling off an upset unless Cotto gives it his best effort on Saturday. Ranked #9 overall in the IBF, Gomez is coming off of wins over Ben Tackie and Arturo Gatti. The win over Gatti was particularly impressive in that he stopped him in the 7th in 2007, a fight that Gatti was never in regards to fighting competitively.
Cintron vs. Margarito On April 26th
In an act of either pure bravery or a sign of confused thinking, International Boxing Federation welterweight champion Kermit Cintron (29-1, 27 KOs) has reportedly signed to fight a rematch with his former conqueror Antonio Margarito (35-5, 25 KOs) on April 26th at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Apparently, the winner of the bout will possibly meeting up with Miguel Cotto, after he finishes destroying Alfonso Gomez on April 12th.
Cintron, 28, seems to have made a big mistake in opting to fight the 29 year-old Margarito, as he was previously destroyed by Margarito in a 5th round TKO in April 2005, a bout in which Cintron was knocked down four times in the process of losing the fight. After the first three rounds, the fight was no longer competitive, as Cintron didn’t have the punch output to match Margarito, and found himself getting hurt repeatedly by Margarito’s powerful hooks to the body and head. Cintron’s defense was poor, allowing Margarito to shoot through his guard with shots to the head.
Williams Angered Over Cintron’s Choice Of Margarito & Cotto for Future Opponents
In the latest boxing news, undefeated World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Paul Williams (33-0, 24 KOs) is reportedly furious at International Boxing Federation welterweight champion Kermit Cintron due to him opting to call out Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito rather than taking on a bout with Williams. Previous to this, Williams and Cintron had decided on fighting each other on February 23, following Cintron’s title defense on November 23rd. However, Cintron appeared to have change of heart after winning the fight by 10th round stoppage and discovering that he had once again re-injured his right hand.
Is Cintron Making A Mistake In Fighting Margarito?
In the past week, International Boxing Federation welterweight champion Kermit Cintron (29-1, 27 KOs) has publically called out Antonio Margarito (35-5, 25 KOs), saying that he wants to fight him as soon as possible, apparently a move made to attempt to erase the previous stain of defeat for Cintron. Two years earlier, in April 2005, Cintron, 28, was stopped in five brutal rounds by Margarito, a bout in which Cintron was knocked down four times before the fight was finally stopped at 2:12 of the 5th round.
I personally don’t see how the fight will be any different than the first time because Cintron doesn’t have an answer for Margarito’s high volume punch output. While Cintron is the harder puncher of the two, he tends to be much more selective of his punches, loading up for an occasional huge shot, whereas Margarito throws a steady volume of hard shots which make it difficult on his opponents. Cintron showed that he couldn’t deal with that kind of fire power from Margarito and quickly succumbed to Margarito’s constant raining punches. It didn’t matter that Cintron hit harder, because Margarito proved to be able to take his punches without much problem.