Kermit Cintrón (born October 22, 1979) is a Puerto Rican boxer who is from Carolina, Puerto Rico. Cintrón is trained by Ronnie Shields and managed by Josh Dubin. DiBella Entertainment is his promoter.
Early and personal life
Cintrón had a tough childhood. He witnessed as his mother lay in bed for months before she died of cancer. Unable to care for Cintrón and his siblings, Cintrón's father sent him to the United States, with Cintrón's uncle, Benjamin Serrano, a former Middleweight contender who had fought Frank The Animal Fletcher among others. Cintrón's father, however, kept regular contact with his kids. But when Cintrón was 13, another tragic blow shook him: His father died of a heart attack, leaving him and his siblings orphaned on both sides. He is married to María Cintrón, the couple has three offsprings.[1] Two daughters, Denali and Savannah and a son.[1]
In early 2008, Cintrón was trained by Emanuel Steward, who focused his training in boxing and counterattacks.[2] He decided to finish this partnership, based on the fact that Steward's time was limited due to several other compromises. Despite this, both conserved a close friendship.[2] During this timeframe, Cintrón abandoned Main Events, signing a promotional contract with Lou DiBella. His next trainer was Ronnie Shields, who emphasized on a faster training pace.[2] Shields preferred a more aggressive style, reminiscent of the one presented during the early stage of Cintrón's early career. Brian Caldwell was employed as conditioning coach, in the process modifying his weight routines.[2]
Boxing career
Cintrón did not start boxing in the amateurs until he was 19. He compiled a record of 24 wins and 3 losses as an amateur.
On the night of October 7, 2000, Cintrón knocked out Jesse Williams in two rounds in Lancaster to begin his professional career.[4] Cintrón thus began an undefeated streak that would last for more than three-and-a-half years.
One of his toughest tests during that streak came against Omar Davila on February 16, 2002.[5] Cintrón took the fight on one week's notice and traveled to his opponent's hometown of San Antonio. Despite being cut on the side of one of his eyes in the first round, Cintrón overcame adversity, coming back to defeat Davila by knockout in round two.
Cintrón was featured on NBC on May 18, 2003, against Puerto Rican veteran Luis Rosario, and he won by knockout 59 seconds into round one.
On July 17, 2004, Cintrón made his HBO Boxing debut, knocking out Teddy Reid in eight rounds.[6]
KO Magazine featured Cintrón in an article, which compared his punching power to that of Félix Trinidad and Thomas Hearns.
Still undefeated and now considered a rising star in the division, Cintrón was scheduled for his first world title bout against WBO welterweight champion Antonio Margarito on April 23, 2005, as part of the undercard of a Shane Mosley win by unanimous decision against the Guatemalan-American boxer David Estrada. Cintrón was dropped by Margarito four times en route to a fifth-round knockout loss.[7]
In early 2006, Cintrón rebounded with a tenth-round technical knockout of Estrada,[8] thus reestablishing himself as a contender in the welterweight division.
Cintrón then won his first title belt in a match against Mark Suarez for the IBF crown that had been vacated on June 20, 2006 by Floyd Mayweather, Jr.[9]
On July 14, 2007, Cintrón was dominant in his first title defense, knocking down Argentine Walter Matthysse three times on his way to a knockout victory twenty-nine seconds into the second round.[10] Prior to this match, Matthysse had never been knocked down by any opponent, although he had suffered a tenth-round technical knockout in May 2006 at the hands of Paul Williams. (The Cintrón-Matthysse bout was the main undercard of a WBO title bout between challenger Williams and incumbent Margarito)
Cintrón and Williams were scheduled for an IBF/WBO title unification bout on February 2, 2008. But as a result of an injury to Cintrón's right hand sustained during his bout with Jesse Feliciano the fight has been canceled.[11]
Cintrón lost his IBF title to Antonio Margarito by knockout on an April 12 broadcast of HBO's World Championship Boxing in a rematch from Altantic City, NJ, on the undercard of Miguel Cotto vs. Alfonso Gomez. Cintrón was knocked down by a body shot in the sixth round and did not respond before the referee concluded the protective count.
Cintrón returned to action against Lovemore N'dou, competing in an eliminatory fight sanctioned by the IBF. The fight took place on November 15, 2008, in a card held in Nashville, Tennessee. Early in the fight, Cintrón began on the offensive, while N'dou clinched regularly.[12] This pattern slowed the fight's tempo throughout the contest. In the third round, Cintrón connected a solid punch, N'dou tried to counterattack and exchange but was ineffective, eventually returning to a strategy based on holds.[12] The numerous clinches resulted in head butts, the referee issued numerous warnings to N'dou for these, eventually deducting a point in the ninth. In the tenth round, an accidental headbutt opened a laceration over Cintrón's eyebrow. In the eleventh round, he was able to injure N'dou with a punch, but didn't continue pressing the offensive. Subsequently, the judges awarded Cintrón scores of 117-110, 115-112 and 116-111.[12]
