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HBO Boxing After Dark Recap

 

May 30, 2009

Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino-Hollywood, Florida

 

 

WBC Super Welterweight (154 pounds) 12-Round Title Elimination Match:

Alfredo Angulo (15-0, 12 KO's, 153.5 pounds) vs. Kermit Cintron (30-2-1, 27, KO's, 153 pounds)

 

Angulo had a good amateur boxing career that culminated when he represented his native Mexico in the 165-pound division at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympiad.

 

The former Olympian is being pushed as the next young Mexican boxing star. That mantle was supposed to go to Antonio Margarito. As Margarito rose in recent years, Angulo served as Margarito's chief sparring partner. With Margarito disgraced and without a boxing license after being caught attempting to use loaded hand wraps in January, Angulo is being asked to take Margarito's place. Angulo has an all action style that focuses primarily on power punching. He is similar to Ricky Hatton in that he seems to bleed in almost every match. This style makes him very crowd pleasing and he is becoming a draw.

 

Angulo's last match was a brutal technical knockout at 2:38 of round 5 over Cosme Rivera on February 14, 2009 at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida. It was the second straight match where Angulo had dealt out a sickening beating to his opponent. Angulo appeared to win round 3, 10-8, without a knockdown. In round 3, Angulo landed 51 of the 79 hard power punches he threw. Meanwhile in round 3, Rivera only threw 50 total punches. Angulo appeared to win round 4 also by the score of, 10-8, without a knockdown. In rounds 3 and 4, Angulo landed 103 total punches, while Rivera landed only 24 total punches. After round 4, Rivera told his corner he was tired. That was code for them to stop the match. Unfortunately, they did not listen and forced their charge to continue being mercilessly beaten. Finally nearing the end of round 5, Rivera's corner told a Florida athletic commissioner on the outside to stop the match. That is the slowest method possible to stop a match. They should have thrown in the towel themselves or run in the ring to get the referee's attention to stop the match. Instead, Rivera was forced to take several more seconds of unnecessary punishment. The referee, Telis Assimenios, did a horrible job in that match. In an event that would feature abominable refereeing, Assimenios was looking to stop the match in round 1, because Rivera was taking so many clean power punches from Angulo, but ultimately never stopped the dangerous pummeling. A full recap of that match and a link to a recap of the much more severe beating Angulo put on Andrey Tsurkan in his previous match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/5/26/recap-of-alfredo-angulo-vs-cosme-rivera.html

 

Angulo is unranked by The Ring magazine, but ranked by boxrec.com as the number 8 boxer in the world at 154 pounds.

 

Cintron's amateur combat sports experience came primarily in the form of wrestling, not boxing. Cintron was an outstanding high school wrestler in Pennsylvania. He turned down wrestling scholarships to compete for The Ohio State University and University of Wisconsin. Cintron decided to go the junior college route instead and finished tenth at nationals his Freshman. A knee injury following that season ended Cintron's wrestling career. He quickly transitioned from wrestling to professional boxing with a round 2 technical knockout over Jesse Williams on October 7, 2000 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania having very little amateur boxing experience.

 

The Pennsylvanian is a natural 147-pounder. Cintron has twice held titles at 147 pounds and is currently the number 1 contender to a vacant belt at 147 pounds. Cintron's 2 losses have both come via knockout making title defenses against the same fighter, Margarito. Considering Margarito likely had loaded hand wraps in both fights, Cintron has appealed to have both outcomes overturned. Unfortunately, since Margarito was not caught at the time, those outcomes are likely to stand. Cintron has only moved up in weight for this match and his last match, because they offered more money then any perspective match at 147 pounds.

 

Cintron received a gift majority draw challenging for Sergio Martinez' interim 154-pound title on the same card that saw Angulo knockout Rivera. The Reading, Pennsylvania resident was literally ruled to have been knocked out by the referee at the end of round 7. However, after 2 minutes the referee changed his mind and ordered the match restarted. With 11 seconds to go in round 7 Cintron gasped and voluntarily took a knee at the end of round 7 claiming he had been hit with a head butt. Unfortunately, the blow that made the Pennsylvanian gasp and go to the canvas was a straight left-hand. Cintron then began to stand at 9, but did not beat the referee's count. On replay, the referee clearly said ten and "It's over." The referee then waved his arms in the air signaling the end of the match and walked Cintron back to his stool. Inexplicably, 2 minutes later the referee said people misunderstood and the match should continue. After getting a lot of time to recover, Cintron was fine when the action resumed. Then, in round 12 the referee, Frank Santore, Jr., took a point from Martinez for hitting behind the head. At this point it appeared Santore was trying to alter the outcome of the match to the extent Nick Patrick openly did in his days as the NWO referee in WCW. This was a terrible point deduction. The reason Martinez hit Cintron behind the head on the punch that drew the deduction is because Cintron ducked. The punch was aimed at Cintron's face, but the Pennsylvanian's poor defense moved the back of his head into the path of the punch. In spite of all of Santore's efforts, Cintron appeared to be completely dominated in the match. Both HBO's Harold Lederman and my scorecard had Martinez winning the match 116-110 in an obvious blowout. The panel featured 1 experienced judge from New Jersey and 2 inexperienced judges from Florida. The New Jersey judge also scored the match 116-110 for Martinez. However, both of the Florida judges had the match scored an irrational, 113-113. ESPN.com has listed this match as its early favorite for robbery of the year. The full recap of this debacle can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/5/25/recap-of-sergio-martinez-vs-kermit-cintron.html

 

Cintron is unranked by The Ring, but ranked by boxrec.com as the number 10 boxer in the world at 154 pounds.

 

At 26-years old, Angulo is 3 years younger then the 29-year-old Cintron. Cintron has the height advantage standing 5' 11" tall, while Angulo stands 5' 10.5" tall. The Pennsylvanian has the reach advantage with a 25" arm length measured from the armpit to the end of the fist, compared to Angulo's 23.5" arm length. Cintron will be the much heavier boxer in the ring having unofficially rehydrated since the official weigh-ins to 169 pounds. Angulo has only unofficially rehydrated to 159 pounds and that could mean there is a problem. There are rumors that Angulo is sick entering this match. He only arrived in Florida on the day of the weigh-ins and looked drained when he weighed-in. All of these point to something being very wrong with Angulo entering this match and bring to mind how weak Oscar De La Hoya was entering the ring against Manny Pacquiao. Both Angulo and Cintron will employ the orthodox stance.

 

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this event. All of the judges keeping official score of this match from ringside are from Florida. The referee is Telis Assimenios. This match is not off to a good start. Harold Lederman will be HBO's unofficial scorekeeper for this event.

 

Behind a solid left jab, Cintron barely wins round 1, 10-9. Angulo started to land powerful right hands at the end of round 1 that had Cintron going backward. If Cintron does not make adjustments, he is on the way to his third knockout. Lederman scores round 1 for Cintron, 10-9. Cintron appeared to throw a lot more punches then Angulo in round 2, and that will probably win the Pennsylvanian the round, 10-9. Cintron wins round 2 on the Lederman scorecard, 10-9. The Pennsylvanian dominates Angulo in round 3 and wins it on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. After 3 rounds, Cintron leads on Lederman and my scorecard, 30-27. For whatever reason, Angulo does not look like his normal self in this match. His punch out-put is way down and he simply does not look "right". Through 3 rounds, Angulo has landed 56 of the 214 total punches he has thrown, for a 26% total connect percentage. Through 3 rounds, Cintron has landed 78 of the 287 total punches he has thrown, for a 27% total connect percentage.

 

With 1:30 to go in round 4, Cintron has been cut over his left eye. That cut was probably caused by a punch. Cintron had Angulo badly hurt several times in round 4 and won it easily on everybody's scorecard, 10-9. A close-up in the corner after round 4 shows the cut above Cintron's eye is small. However, it is directly over the eye. Still, the cut should play no factor in this match if Cintron's cutman does a good job on what appears to be a very manageable wound. Cintron uses his superior movement to win round 5, 10-9. Lederman scores round 5 for Angulo, 10-9. In round 6, Cintron has set the CompuBox record for the number of power punches landed on Angulo. Cintron set that record with power connect number 83. With around 45 seconds to go in round 6, Angulo has begun to bleed from around his left ear. That should not factor into the match. Cintron wins round 6 in dominating fashion on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. In round 6, Cintron landed the most total punches he had in any round of the match, 35. Through 6 rounds, Angulo has landed 119 of the 431 total punches he has thrown, for a 28% total connect percentage. Through 6 rounds, Cintron has landed 164 of the 576 total punches he has thrown, for a 28% total connect percentage. Of Cintron's 164 total connects, 90 of them have been power connects. After 6 rounds, Cintron leads on the Lederman scorecard, 59-55. After 6 rounds, Cintron leads on my scorecard, 60-54. In the corner after round 6, Angulo's trainer told the boxer that he had lost all of the first 6 rounds by being out-worked.

 

Cintron wins round 7, 10-9. In a move reeking of desperation, in the middle of round 7 Angulo switched to the southpaw stance. Unfortunately, Angulo was ineffective from that stance and forced to revert to his normal orthodox stance. Angulo is beginning to rush, because he feels he needs a knockout at this point. No opponent has ever been able to finish round 10 when faced with Angulo's overwhelming power. Angulo has knocked out his last 11 consecutive opponents. Both of those streaks appear to be coming to an end in this match. Lederman scores round 7 for Cintron, 10-9. Angulo starts round 8 boxing out of the southpaw stance. Cintron is able to land several straight right hands while Angulo employs the southpaw stance. Therefore, Angulo goes back to boxing out of the orthodox stance in less then 30 seconds. With 11 seconds to go in round 8, the referee calls timeout to have some loose tape on the left glove of Angulo fixed. This interruption is only for about 15 seconds. Round 8 is contested primarily at close distance, and that allows the shorter armed Angulo to win it, 10-9. Angulo wins round 8 on the Lederman scorecard, 10-9. The young boxer is applying more pressure and Cintron is beginning to tire. Behind some good body punching, Angulo wins round 9, 10-9, but after 9 rounds, Cintron leads on my scorecard, 88-83. Lederman scores round 9 for Angulo, 10-9, but has Cintron ahead on his scorecard after 9 rounds, 87-84.

 

There is a delay in starting round 10. At the end of the rest period some loose tape on Angulo's right glove had to be fixed. It is a mystery why that could not have been fixed at the beginning of the break. This delay was only about 10 seconds. Cintron uses his jab to win round 10, 10-9. In round 10, Cintron lowered his guard to protect his body rather then his ribs. Cintron is tired and at this point the body punches from Angulo pose more of a threat than the punches to the head, that Cintron has a better chance to dodge. Through 10 rounds, Angulo has landed 220 of the 780 total punches he has thrown, for a 28% total connect percentage. Through 10 rounds, Cintron has landed 269 of the 937 total punches he has thrown, for a 29% total connect percentage. Angulo wins round 10 on the Lederman scorecard, 10-9. This is the first round 11 of Angulo's career. Conversely, Cintron went to 12-round decisions in his last 2 matches. Angulo wins round 11 easily, 10-9. Cintron appears to be boxing at this point thinking he has a huge lead on the scorecard. The Pennsylvanian is doing enough to not let Angulo score a knockout, but clearly giving away rounds by being very defensive. After round 11, Angulo's corner told their charge that only a knockout would win the match. At the same time, Cintron's corner told their charge to keep his hands up in round 12, because he could only lose via knockout. Lederman scored round 11 for Angulo, 10-9. Angulo lands numerous power punches to win round 12, 10-9. However, Cintron wins the match on my scorecard, 116-112. Cintron wins round 12 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9, and the match, 115-113.

 

The official decision courtesy of the always "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr. is that the judges have scored the match: 116-112, 116-112, 116-112 all for the winner by unanimous decision, Kermit "The Killer" Cintron. The win moves Cintron to 31-2-1 with 27 wins coming by way of knockout.

 

The final punchstat numbers have Cintron landing 316 of the 1094 total punches he threw, for a 29% total connect percentage. Angulo landed 277 of the 957 total punches he threw, for 29% total connect percentage.

 

Cintron said in his post match interview that this was probably the best performance to date of his career. Cintron concluded by saying that his management will decide if he continues at 154 pounds or goes back to 147 pounds.

 

The Pennsylvanian was outstanding in this match. Cintron showed good boxing skills and much better defense then he ever has shown in his career. However, his conditioning still needs improvement. The win here makes him the mandatory challenger to Sergio Martinez' 154-pound title. (More on that in the News and Notes section.) However, even Cintron's management think he was dominated by Martinez in their first match. That would not necessarily make them eager to have Cintron take that title shot immediately. The opponent Cintron would have to face to win the vacant 147-pound belt that he is a mandatory challenger to, would assuredly be an easier match-up for him. With more big money matches to be made at 147 pounds and a less formidable opponent looming, Cintron would probably be best off taking that title shot. Cintron can use the 154-pound title shot as money in the bank should he fail to win the 147-pound title.

 

Angulo was clearly not healthy for this match. He entered the ring for his last 2 matches at 165 pounds. Angulo entered the ring for this match at 159 pounds. In those matches Angulo dominated. In this match, Angulo appeared relatively weak and slow. Angulo only became effective when Cintron became fatigued. Even at that point, Angulo's punches did not carry their usual power. Angulo's normal power punches could have changed the course of the match against an opponent with a suspect chin, but he did not have that type of power tonight. The theory had always been that Angulo's ultra-aggressive style would not be able to deal with a boxer that was constantly moving. That appears to be true. Of course, considering Angulo was clearly not 100% in this match it can be somewhat discounted. Unfortunately, the loss here does set Angulo's career back about a year. Angulo had been looking to get a title shot by the end of this year. Now, it looks like Angulo will not be challenging for a title until sometime in 2010.

This match was relatively entertaining.