A Drama Queen, A Tornado and A Japanese Cock Fight: The Weekend Hangover

Carson, California- And the Drama Queen  lifetime achievement award goes to...Kermit Cintron! (Cintron cries, runs up the stairs, trips, and falls off stage)

In the latest Kermit Cintron (32-3-1, 28 KOs) drama, three cautious, uneventful rounds with Paul Williams (39-1, 27 KOs) were followed by a fight-ending collision in the fourth which saw Cintron fly from the ring, bounce off the table and land on the arena floor. After a couple of minutes of Cintron semi-writhing on the cold floor, he was carted off on a stretcher and taken to the hospital as a precaution.

The frustrating thing is that the fight was just starting to pick up when it came crashing to an abrupt halt. Per California commission rules, the fight was judged based on the three complete rounds and the partial fourth.

Williams came away with the mega-frustrating split decision.

Predictably, Cintron issued a statement about being outraged, petitioning the commission for a reversal of the decision and threatening to walk away from the sport for good if his demands aren't met...blah, blah, blah...Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Kermit...

Aguascalientes, Mexico- 16 months after the Plaster Gate controversy, Antonio Margarito (38-6, 27 KOs) made his comeback in front of more than 17,000 partisan fans in La Plaza de Toros Monumental.

Margarito's opponent, Roberto Garcia (28-3, 21 KOs), was so obviously mismatched that most of the interesting moments of the bout came from Margarito, himself, as he mugged to the camera, windmilled punches and mimicked being a bull fighter in the face of a painfully slow and stiff Garcia.

Margarito scored a flash knockdown in the first and Garcia suffered couple of point deductions for headbutting in the eighth and a low blow in the tenth, but that was the only real noteworthy happenings in Margarito's easy Unanimous Decision victory.

After the fight, Margarito indicated that a bout with Manny Pacquiao was just about a sure thing.

On the undercard, Jorge Solis (39-2-2, 28 KOs) dominated Mario Santiago (21-3-1, 14 KOs) via wide UD. The first two rounds looked promising, with both fighters landing significant shots. Eventually, though, Solis settled into a groove and dominated from the outside with long, straight right hands against the southpaw, Santiago.

Also, Urbano Antillon (27-1, 20 KOs) won a tougher than expected UD over Rene Gonzalez (27-1-1, 21 KOs). The scores were wide and it was scored a near shutout, but Gonzalez did have his moments.

Osaka, Japan- Mexican, Hugo Cazares (31-6-2, 22 KOs) went into enemy territory and avenged a prior loss by taking the WBA Super Flyweight title from Nobuo Nashiro (13-2-1, 8 KOs). In what could only be described as an early morning cock fight, the action was fierce and back and forth with Cazares doing enough to take the unanimous decision.

Your Ad Here

War in Mexico: Ponce De Leon, Segura,Chavez, Espadas in Action

by Paul Magno

Lots of action South of the border this past Saturday.

In Mexico City at the Auditorio Plaza Condesa, former world champ, Daniel Ponce de Leon (38-2, 33 KOs), headlined a sold out Golden Boy show and inched closer to another world title shot by knocking out Puerto Rican, Orlando Cruz (16-2-1, 7 KOs).

Ponce de Leon pounced on Cruz from the opening bell and never let him in the fight until a thudding liver shot ended the bout at the 2:37 mark of the third round. For his part, Cruz never really seemed invested into the fight as he basically ran and pawed with weak shots for the entire bout.

The WBC Latino Featherweight title was at stake.

Your Ad Here

Read more »

Boxing's Prospects Fail to Make It to the Promised Land

by Paul Magno

Something's been happening to boxing's young prospects.

Actually, something's not happening to them: They're not winning.

The latest example was in this past Saturday's Latin Fury 10 PPV, which saw highly-regarded Lightweight prospect, Urbano Antillon, taste the canvas, and defeat, for the first time against the unknown Venezuelan stylist, Miguel Acosta.

On a personal note for Antillon, he failed in his attempt to win the vacant Interim WBA Lightweight title and failed to live up to the hype that had him regarded by Larry Merchant of HBO as a "can't miss" future superstar.

However, in the big picture, Antillon's inability to cope with simple lateral movement spoke of a greater problem behind the scenes of the sport. It spoke of a future generation of star athletes who are simply not being taught the skills to go along with their athletic promise.

The list of failed prospects in recent weeks is almost comical:

*Well-regarded amateur stand-out, Juan Carlos Velasquez, is defeated by Mexican journeyman, Jose Beranza, on Friday Night Fights. Velasquez actually seemed to be shocked and surprised that Beranza would fight back.

*Colombian banger, and destroyer of fellow prospect, Amir Khan, Breidis Prescott is outpointed by Miguel Vazquez, basically, because he had no idea how to deal with Vazquez's head movement.

*Golden Boy's Victor Ortiz is battered and psychologically torn down by Marcos Maidana, the first fighter with the nerve to actually keep fighting when confronted with the force of a "future superstar."

*Alfredo Angulo is bested by Kermit Cintron because of his utter inability to deal with lateral movement, even when that lateral movement comes from a non-speedster like Cintron.

*Deandre Latimore is out-slugged by, of all people, a flat-footed and immobile Cory Spinks.

One by one, the prospects are falling from contention and they're not being replaced by veteran stars like in the case of Bernard Hopkins' one-sided schooling of Kelly Pavlik.

Many of these young talents are being beaten by the products of hardcore boxing gyms in Latin America. They're being beaten by fighters who, 10 or 20 years ago, would've been little more than a snack for talented athletes on their way to titles.

So, what's the problem? What's happening to our young lions?

Part of the problem rests in the fact that "old school" boxing trainers are mostly a thing of the past in the United States. For every Freddie Roach, there are a couple dozen trainers who would be better-suited working an aerobics class.

Serious boxing gyms are disappearing and the quality trainers are literally dying off.

There simply aren't enough of the blood-and-guts Teddy Atlas-types who will take the time to teach their kids solid fundamentals and the value of being mentally prepared as a professional.

Instead, they are fed into an amateur system which now values arm-punches and "back-foot" fighting over a professional defense and a workable inside game.

In the modern amateur game, points are valued more than power and a light jab is a bigger asset than solid body punching.

It's no wonder young fighters seem to be lacking a certain degree of mental toughness these days.

The second reason for this apparent failure of the young prospects has to do with our culture.

We are in a culture of instant gratification where anything worth having better be had right now.

It takes a lifetime to become a fundamentally solid professional boxer. It's something that takes blood, sweat and tears. Hour after hour is spent going over one basic move, until it's perfected.

Unfortunately, in a prize-fighting world of flailing, crude UFC brawls and "extreme" instant gratification, many young people simply don't have the patience or dedication to sweat for hours at a time on something as mundane as learning how to walk the ring.

The scary part is that, at some point, those boxers who have taken the time to learn their craft, will retire, leaving behind this crop of talented, but not fundamentally sound pretenders.

Then, what will boxing look like?


Discuss This Topic on the BTBC Message Board!

Your Ad Here