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HBO World Championship Boxing Recap

April 12, 2008

Boardwalk Hall-Atlantic City, New Jersey

HBO is trying to bill this as night of Puerto Rican boxers facing Mexican boxers. However, this is largely diminished by the fact that the Puerto Rican boxer in the first match has spent the last 20 years of his life living in Pennsylvania where it snows up to 6 months a year. Also, the Mexican boxer in the second match went to school in Napa, California, which is about 1.5 hours from my house and nothing like Mexico. (It is however, a great place for tourists to spend aweekend, as the heart of the Northern California wine country.)

1. IBF Welterweight (147 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Kermit Cintron (29-1, 27 KO's, 146.5 pounds) (c) vs. Antonio Margarito (35-5, 25 KO's, 1 NC, 146.5 pounds) II

Cintron won this title after it was vacated by Floyd Mayweather, Jr., who refused to take an IBF ordered rematch with Zab Judah following their first match that saw Roger Mayweather, Judah, and Judah's father suspended for 1 year for being involved in a mini-riot in the ring during the infamous first match. Cintron thenwon the title by defeating Mark Suarez via technical knockout, 2:31 into round 6 on October 28, 2006 at the Convention Center in Palm Beach, Florida. Cintron is making his third defense of this title.

This is a rematch of a match on April 23, 2005, where Margarito knocked Cintron down 4-times before winning the match by technical knockout at 2:12 of round 5, when Cintron's corner threw in the towel after Cintron gave them a look that he wanted out. The match at Cesar's Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, exposed Cintron's habit of under preparing for matches. Cintron had not viewed any video tape of Margarito prior to the match. This allowed Margarito to confuse Cintron from early in the match and dominate his inexperienced opponent.

Since then, Cintron has switched trainers to Hall of Famer Emanuel Steward, and has taken long breaks between matches to learn the craft of boxing.

Cintron immigrated to Pennsylvania from Puerto Rico as a youth and began his combat sports career as an amateur wrestler. He turned down full athletic scholarships to wrestle at Big 10 schools University of Wisconsin and The Ohio State University. Cintron instead went to junior college and finished tenth at the junior college national championship tournament as a Freshman. However, a knee injury ended his wrestling career and caused him to switch to boxing at 19-years-old. Cintron then had his first professional boxing match at 20-years-old with almost no amateur boxing experience.

The champion's last match was a technical knockout victory, 1:53 into round 10 over Jesse Feliciano at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Coming off the victory, Cintron was scheduled to face Paul Williams to unify his IBF and with Williams' WBO championship at 147 pounds. However, Cintron re-injured his right hand in the match and was forced to pull out of the match with Williams (who lost his title to replacement Carlos Quintana on February 9). Cintron has a history of hand injuries that has caused him to be tentative in previous matches, including the first match with Margarito. The continued hand injuries could be a factor for Cintron in this match.

Cintron is the number 7 ranked contender at 147 pounds by The Ring magazine to its champion in the weight class, Mayweather.

Margarito turned pro at 15-years-old on January 14, 1994, because he needed the money he could make as a pro boxer. He began boxing in Tijuana, Mexico and was taking on much older more experienced boxers.

On February 26, 1996, a 17-year-old Margarito suffered hislast loss asa proat 147 pounds versus an experienced American boxer, Larry Dixon, in Tijuana prior to facing Paul Williams on July 14, 2007 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Margarito came into the match with Williams over confident and did not take Williams seriously as an opponent. By the time Margarito realized he needed to be aggressive in the match to win against Williams who was punching at a frenetic pace, Margarito had lost the first 6 rounds on the scorecards. The resident of Tijuana ended up losing the match via unanimous decision: 115-113, 115-113, 116-112, but Williams could have arguably won the match by a much larger margin. The loss shocked Margarito and he says it has motivated him to work harder.

Margarito's last match was a technical knockout victory 2:28 into round 1 over Golden Johnson on November 10, 2007 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. The victory earned Margarito the vacant WBO Inter-Continental Championship at 147 pounds. That championship is not at stake in this match, and Margarito may have vacated the meaningless title.

Margarito is The Ring's number 5 contender at 147 pounds.

At 28-years-old, Cintron is 2 years younger then the 30-year-old Margarito. Both boxers are 5' 11" tall. Cintron has the reach advantage with a 25" arm length measured from the armpit to the end of the fist, while Margarito has a 23.5" arm length measured the same way. On HBO's unofficial scales approaching match time, Margarito has the weight advantage having rehydrated to 160 pounds. Cintron has only rehydrated to 158 pounds. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance. Bodog.com lists the favorites as Margarito by stoppage in less then 9.5 rounds.

Before the introductions, there is a 10-bell salute for the late Art Aragon who passed away a few weeks ago.

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this event, with the modification that the both the doctor and referee can stop the contest in New Jersey. The judges are from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. The referee is Earl Brown. Keeping unofficial score for HBO for this entire event is Harold Lederman.

Cintron wins round 1 by landing more power punches, 10-9. The defense from both boxers in round was poor. Both boxers were landing almost all of the punches they threw. Lederman scores round 1 for Cintron, 10-9. Margarito dominates round 2, winning it, 10-9. In round 2, Margarito threw several uppercuts that were low or borderline low. The Tijuana resident only received one warning for it and Cintron never got a break from Margarito's barrage of punches to recover. None of the low blows appeared to seriously effect Cintron, but the champion took a lot of punches to the head and body in round 2. Margarito wins round 2 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. In round 2, Margarito landed 54 punches to 25 total connects for Cintron. The referee went to each corner following round 2 to issue warnings for low blows and headbutting. Going to Margarito's corner after round 2, the referee discovered a small cut above the boxer's left eye. It does not appear to be bleeding and is not a problem at this time for the boxer or referee. Margarito turns a close round 3, into a clear victory for him in the last minute by being more active and landing power punches on a distracted Cintron. Cintron kept complaining to the referee about being hit in the back of the head, and Margarito took advantage of the opportunities. The referee had not ordered the action to be halted while Cintron was complaining, and Margarito reminded Cintron about the "protect yourself at all times"rule. This allowed Margarito to legally hit Cintron when the champion was looking the other way to complain. In addition, Cintron was causing many of the punches to land on the back of his head, by ducking down when Margarito was throwing punches. The turtling defense made sure every punch Margarito threw landed on the back of Cintron's head. Margarito wins round 3 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Lederman and I have Margarito leading in the match after 3 rounds, 29-28.

To start round 4, the cut above Margarito's left eye is getting much wider and bothering him. Margarito wins round 4, 10-9. Cintron has hit Margarito with some hard power punches to the head in this match, but they have had no effect on the challenger. Margarito has maintained a high workrate on the inside, since the beginning of the match. Cintron appears to be getting effected mentally by the challenger's high workrate and his own inability to hurt Margarito with power punches, that have knocked out most opponents. Lederman scores round 4 for Margarito, 10-9. With over 1 minute to go in round 5, Cintron is cut above his right eye. It appears to be the same area he was cut in the first match between the two of them. Cintron then turtles to avoid a punch and is hit in the back of the head. The champion then walks away holding the back of his head, which prompts the referee to move in and warn Margarito. Cintron is then given about 10 seconds to recover well Margarito is admonished, but not docked a point. Margarito wins round 5, 10-9. After round 5, the doctor comes into Cintron's corner to check the cut and see if the boxer can continue. The doctor says Cintron is fine to continue, but the champion's body language does not look good. Cintron is continuing to box to win, but he is showing the body language of a boxer on the verge of defeat. Replay shows that the cut above Cintron'sright eye was caused by a clean left hand from Margarito. Margarito wins round 5 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. A left hand from Margarito sends Cintron to the canvas, with 1:16 to go in round, and Cintron may not want to get up, even if he can. Cintron stays down for the 10-count. This match is over, and there is a new champion. It appears that it was a left hand to the lower ribs that finished Cintron.

The official result from ring announcer Lupe Contreras is: at 1:57 of round 6 the referee reached a count of 10, making the winner by way of knockout and new IBF Welterweight Champion of the World, "The Tijuana Tornado" Antonio Margarito. The win moves Margarito to 36-5 with 26 of those wins coming by way of knockout and 1 no contest.

The final punchstat numbers show how dominant Margarito was in this match, landing 257 of the 611 total punches he threw, for a 42% total connect percentage. Margarito landed 207 of the 451 power punches he threw, for a 46% power connect percentage. Cintron landed only 136 of the 451 total punches he threw, for a 30% total connect percentage. The Pennsylvania resident landed only 89, less then half Margarito's total, of the 209 power punches he threw, for a 43% power connect percentage. The final numbers have Margarito landing on average 22 more power punches per round then Cintron.

Margarito in his post match interview cut a weak promo on Cotto.

Margarito as the winner of this match is supposed to face Cotto next, should Cotto win his match in the main event. However, this is where things get confusing. Boxrec.com lists that Margarito is committed to a match against a still undetermined opponent on June 28 at Estadio Revolucion in Sonora, Mexico. Boxrec.com also, says Cotto is currently scheduled to face Ricardo Mayorga on July 19 in the United States regardless of any outcomes (more on this later). The proposed match between Cotto and Margarito would happen on July 26 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York. The Yankees are playing a day game in Boston that day, which should be done in plenty of time for people to travel to the stadium to watch the main. In this match, Margarito proved he is still an elite level boxer, who could cause problems for anyone in the weight class not named Mayweather, and deserving of a match with Cotto.

Cintron has been knocked potentially farther down by this loss then he was by the loss to Margarito 3 years ago. His defense was terrible in this match, and when faced with another top boxer for the second time in his career he was dominated and knocked out. Cintron appeared to be a one-dimensional boxer built only on his ability to knock out opponent. He was unable to deal with a boxer who stood up to him in the ring. The native Puerto Rican has still never gone past 10-rounds, and any doubts about Cintron were only confirmed. This was possibly the worst match Cintron could have had. A knockout in 30 seconds, could have been chalked up to a lucky punch. This was a systematic destruction. The thought of Cintron as an elite boxer at 147 pounds is gone. Cintron could now look to build for a match against a tough but undersized Judah, which now appears to be a bad match up. Judah belongs at 140 pounds,and might be the best match Cintron could hope to win in the next year. Judah will not back down in the face of Cintron's power, but has relatively little punching power at 147 pounds. That might make Judah the best match up for Cintron. Cintron appears to have joined the list of pretenders, rather then contenders.