By James Slater: Former IBF welterweight champ Kermit Cintron is set to return to action on the under-card of the Brandon Rios-Urbano Antillon lightweight battle that will go ahead at The Home Depot Centre in Carson, CA on July 9th. According to the man with all the news, Dan Rafael of ESPN.com, the Puerto Rican will face Mexican danger man Carlos Molina in a scheduled ten-rounder at light-middleweight.
For 31-year-old Cintron the fight will mark his first action since his bizarre May, 2010 fight with Paul Williams (who, interestingly, makes his own return to action that same night, in Atlantic City against Nobuhiro Ishida). It is to be hoped “The Killer” can keep himself inside the ropes against 27-yeara-old Molina!
Believing very much he can rule again, Cintron, 32-3-1(28) faces a potentially tough night in July. Though Molina, known as “King,” has not fought the calibre of opposition Cintron has in compiling his 18-4-2(6) pro record, he has been scoring some useful wins recently and he is currently on a 10-fight win streak (with one draw). It is this draw that stands out on Molina’s record.
Back in his last-but-one fight, the Mexican met highly-touted former amateur standout Erislandy Lara of Cuba, and Molina was held to a controversial majority draw most people thought he’d actually won. That performance showed Molina is the real deal and he has since won a 7th-round TKO over Allen Conyers of The Bronx. Molina will be coming to win against Cintron, no doubt about that.
Cintron will almost certainly be rusty come July 9th, and this year has been surprising us with a number of notable upsets. Cintron has to be made the favourite, but no-one should write off his opponent’s chances.
How much has Cintron got left, and can he compete with the world’s premiere 154-pounders once again? That Feb. 2009 draw with reigning middleweight king Sergio Gabriel Martinez sure looks good on Cintron’s record today (even though the Argentine was robbed of a win), and we must remember how well the Puerto Rican can fight. We will get some idea as to whether or not he can still perform at top level in a couple of months.
I go for Cintron to win a reasonably wide decision as he sheds his ring-rust.