28.10.06 – By Alden “The Kid” Chodash: Kermit Cintron was destined to be a world champion. After being christened by Steve Farhood as SHOBOX’s “poster boy”, Cintron made his first appearance on HBO’s Boxing After Dark against heralded and dangerous veteran, Teddy Reid. Cintron fought like a undeveloped yet talented prospect as he overcame a few shaky moments to stop the hard punching Reid in the eighth. In his very next appearance, Cintron took on the vicious punching Antonio Margarito for the Cintron’s first world title in Caesars’ Palace in Las Vegas, April 2005. Cintron, from the moment the opening bell sounded, was completely unprepared for the professionalism and the class Margarito had to offer.
Cintron was cut in the third and dropped twice in the fourth and fifth forcing referee Kenny Bayless to call a halt to the mismatch. Cintron returned with a quick blowout of Francisco Parra and then debuted in 2006 with an all out war with former welterweight contender, David Estrada. Cintron had problems during the battle with Estrada’s constant pressure but Cintron, with his new trainer Emmanuel Steward, was disciplined enough to fend off the attack and eventually stop Estrada in the tenth.
By this time Cintron was ready to go after his dream once more, to win a world title. After Floyd Mayweather’s victory over Zab Judah, Floyd took a bout with Carlos Baldomir, vacating his IBF Title. Cintron and dangerous 6′ welterweight Mark “Poison” Suarez got the call to fill the vacancy. The fight took place in the West Palm Beach Convention Center, a venue that embraced Cintron after his full fledged war with Estrada earlier this year at the same venue. For Cintron, this attempt for the world title was going to be positive thanks to Emmanuel Steward who polished him physically as well as mentally. Mark Suarez was no pushover though. Suarez was coming off of a shocking first round stoppage over undefeated James Webb. Also, Suarez’s punching power was highly regarded.
The fight began with the height advantage (for Suarez) apparent. After a tactical first, Suarez began to abandon his height benefit and try to outmuscle Cintron. This time Cintron was able to adapt and he countered well on the unorthodox Suarez. Cintron stunned Suarez with a series of hard right hands in the third but in the fourth Suarez came back to land his best punch of the fight, a right hand. The right hand, to my surprise, didn’t faze Cintron who dominated the rest of the round. Cintron pressed the advantage in the fifth, dropping Suarez with a series of punches. Suarez got up but after Cintron put another stream of punches on Suarez, referee Frank Santore Jr. stopped the fight and awarded Cintron his long awaited world title.
With the victory, Cintron has opened doors for possible unification bouts, including an interesting bout with Luis Collazo, or even a chance for Cintron to earn redemption for his most humiliating moment last year against Antonio Margarito. Cintron has just became the newest addition to the welterweight division’s red-hot titleholders.