Alvarez vs. Cintron, Broner vs. Rodriguez in mismatches tonight on HBO

By Boxing News - 11/26/2011 - Comments

Image: Alvarez vs. Cintron, Broner vs. Rodriguez in mismatches tonight on HBOBy Chris Williams: HBO will be televising a couple of mismatches tonight in a split site telecast highlighted by the fight between WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez (38-0-1, 28 KO’s) making his third title defense against a fading Kermit Cintron (33-4-1, 28 KO’s) in a fight that will clearly go to the young 21-year-old Alvarez in a fight that will take place in Alvarez’s home country of Mexico at the Monumental Plaza de Toros in Mexico City, Mexico.

In the other fight, unbeaten Adrien Broner (21-0, 17 KO’s) will be facing Spaniard Vincente Martin Rodriguez (34-2-1, 19 KO’s) in a battle for the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) super featherweight title at the U.S Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio, the home city of Broner. Don’t get it twisted about Rodriguez having an impressive looking record, this fight is a huge mismatch.

Rodriguez’s 34 wins have come largely against 2nd and 3rd tier opposition that our no way anywhere close to what Rodriguez will be facing tonight against the blazing fast and powerful Broner. This is going to be one of those fights that will be sickening to watch because Rodriguez is too slow to do anything against Broner.

This is actually a huge step down for Broner from his last fight against Jason Litzau. Broner stopped Litzau in the 1st round. Although I don’t see Rodriguez getting stopped in the 1st, he’s going to be nothing more than a slow punching bag for as long as this lasts.

Alvarez is someone that his promoters at Golden Boy are trying to turn into a mega star along the lines of a Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. They’re matching him soft, and he has yet to face anyone really good. That trend continues tonight by putting him in with the #14 ranked WBC contender Cintron, who has lost two out of his last three fights.

If Alvarez can’t dominate Cintron, then Golden Boy is going to have major problems on their hands in trying to make a star out of Alvarez because it gets a lot tougher than this for Alvarez if he wants to beat the best fighters in the division.

Thus far here are Alvarez’s best opponents of his career:

Carlos Baldomir – 40 years old

Lovemore N’dou – 40 years old

Jose Miguel Cotto – A lightweight picked out for Alvarez, then a huge welterweight, to fight. Even then, Cotto staggered Alvarez in the 1st round and it was a close call for the red-haired Alvarez. But what was he doing fighting a lightweight?

Matthew Hatton – A European welterweight champion who picked out to fight Alvarez for the vacant WBC title for some reason.

Ryan Rhodes – an underpowered overmatched contender who had limited experience against top level opponents at the time he was picked out to fight Alvarez.

Alfonso Gomez – A welterweight who had no business fighting at junior middleweight.

As you see, Alvarez has been put in with old, often small and sometimes weak punchers. There hasn’t been anyone really dangerous for him and that trend continues tonight. Even if Alvarez wins this fight, he’ll still have a lot to prove. Golden Boy seems to be putting off the inevitable by stalling in matching Alvarez against the top fighters in the junior middleweight division. Eventually, they’re going to have to put him in tough unless they plan on having him vacate the title rather than face guys like Vanes Martirosyan, James Kirkland, Erislandy Lara, Carlos Molina, Paul Williams, Yudel Jhonson and Alfredo Angulo.

In the undercard action from Cincinnati, unbeaten heavyweight prospect Deontay Wilder will be facing David Long in an 8 round fight that won’t make it on television. Super featherweight prospect Gary Russell Jr. fights Heriberto Ruiz n a 10 round bout. The Russell-Ruiz fight will likely be shown on HBO, as they are very impressed with him. He might not pan out as a future star, though, because he lacks big time power, defense and head movement. He’s doing well against the 2nd and 3rd tier opposition that he’s being matched against, but you can see already that he’s going to have big time problems when he’s eventually put in against a good super featherweight. However, with the watered down divisions filled with four titles and numerous interim belts in every division, Russell Jr. will probably win a title at some point, but I can’t see him ever being the top guy at super featherweight. Too many flaws.

In the Alvarez-Cintron undercard in Mexico, Salvador Sanchez II fights Alexander Monterrosa in featherweight action. Not much recognizable fighters on this card.



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