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Margarito too strong for Cintron.

posted by Kathleen Holland on April 12, 2008, in Events

Story by Mark DeSisto

Antonio Margarito reaffirmed his dominance over Kermit
Cintron with a devastating 6th round knockout to
capture Cintron’s IBF welterweight belt in a highly
anticipated rematch. .

Margarito handed Cintron his first loss with a
humiliating 5th round TKO in 2005 and there were
various excuses from the Cintron camp and talk of
marked improvement for this bout. Maybe there was but
Margarito was simply too strong and tough,
relentlessly walking through some decent punches from
Cintron and applying an impressive offensive arsenal,
punctuated by a devastating left to the ribs that left
Cintron face down on the canvas and counted out at
1:57 of the 6th round.

Cintron entered the ring fired up to the delight of
the large Puerto Rican crowd in attendance. The first
round was by far his best as he landed a couple of
strong counter punches late to take the round in 2 of
the 3 judges view.

That would be the last round that Cintron would win as
Margarito took the fight to the inside and Cintron
obliged to Margarito’s strength, taking some big
uppercuts in the process.
Cintron did his best to stay on the outside in round 3
but Margarito applied constant pressure, ( including
smiling like he does when he gets hit with a good
punch) and once again the two were trading bombs , a
style that clearly favors the iron-chinned Tijuana
resident.
Margarito continuously wore the then IBF champion down
with left to the body, uppercuts, and sneaky right
hands to the side of Cintron’s head. By this point it
was obvious that it was just a matter of time and
Cintron (29-2,27KO) deserves credit for even taking
the rematch and lasting into the 6th round with the
punishment he was taking.

The deserving “Tijuana Tornado” can once again rejoice
in being a major title holder and look forward to a
unification match with the ultra-talented WBA champion
Miguel Cotto.

Undercard Results

Pierson- Gonzalez

In the evening’s opening bout, New Jersey middleweight
Richard Pierson won a unanimous decision over tough
Angel Gonzalez by scores of 59-55(twice) and 59-56.

Paterson resident Pierson (7-1,4KO), a regular
sparring partner of world champion Kelly Pavlik,
controlled most of the 6 round bout with a good jab,
straight right hand, and counterpunching but seemed to
get complacent in round 4, allowing Gonzalez into the
bout and even getting stunned with punches later in
the fight.

Pierson hurt Gonzalez in the 5th round and went in for
the finish, only to get caught and hurt with a left
hook. Pierson may have been fortunate that the round
soon came to an end as Gonzalez had him against the
ropes and was looking to do damage.
Gonzalez fought on even terms with Pierson in the
sixth and final round in seeing his record fall to
6-5-1(3KO).

In a six round featherweight bout, skilled Puerto
Rican pugilist Luis Cruz remained undefeated at
5-0(3KO) with a 58-56 (all 3 judges) unanimous
decision victory over fiery southpaw Olvin Meija.
Laredo, TX resident Meija gave Cruz some trouble early
on with his unorthodox style, firing looping left
hands and right hooks, keeping Cruz off balance and
even stunning him early in the bout with all 3 judges
giving the first 2 rounds to Meija.

Cruz soon figured out Meija and his better technique
and straighter punches started to land , wobbling his
opponent backwards with a right hand and following up
with a nice flurry to end the third round.
Cruz continued to deliver effective right hands and
some good body shots but was unable to finish the very
game Meija (3-2-1,3 KO) who was always dangerous with
his wild, winging punches when hurt. Cruz is
trained by Evangelista Cotto, uncle and trainer of
world champion Miguel Cotto, and looks to be a good
prospect for boxing fans to watch.

Bronx, NY middleweight Ronny Vargas remained improved
his record to 5-0(4KO) with a 3rd round stoppage over
Roberto Irrizarry. Irrizarry, in falling to 2-4
(0KO), was simply overmatched by his tall, slicker
opponent and started to take continuous punishment
until his corner wisely threw in the towel at 2:51 of
round 3.

Omar Coffi of Caracas, Venezuela, now fighting out of
New Hampshire, found himself with a difficult opponent
in his pro debut as he fought to a 4 round draw with
Don Mouton(3-2-1,3KO) of Houston Texas.

Puerto Rico’s Jesus Rojas improved his undefeated
record to 11-0(9KO) with an impressive technical
knockout over veteran Andres Ledesma at 2:14 of round
4. Colombia’s Ledesma (14-9-1, 9KO), tried to stay
and punch with Rojas who was simply too strong for
Ledesma, flooring him with a strong right hand, and
finishing him off with another flurry before the
referee jumped in to rescue Ledesma.

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