Kermit Cintrón (born October 22, 1979) is a Puerto Rican
boxerBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
who is from
Carolina, Puerto RicoCarolina is a city located in the northern part of Puerto Rico, bordering the Atlantic Ocean; it lies north of Gurabo and Juncos; east of Trujillo Alto and San Juan; and west of Canóvanas and Loíza. Carolina is spread over 12 wards plus Carolina Pueblo...
. 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
cancerCancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis...
. Unable to care for Cintrón and his siblings, Cintrón's father sent him to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, with Cintrón's uncle, Benjamin Serrano, a former Middleweight contender who had fought
Frank The Animal FletcherFrancis or Frank Fletcher may refer to:*Frank Friday Fletcher , U.S. Navy Admiral, namesake of the USS Fletcher *Frank Jack Fletcher , U.S. Navy Admiral, namesake of the USS 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. Two daughters, Denali and Savannah and a son.
In early 2008, Cintrón was trained by
Emanuel StewardEmanuel Steward is a boxing trainer, commentator and inductee of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame.-Biography:...
, who focused his training in boxing and counterattacks. 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. During this timeframe, Cintrón abandoned Main Events, signing a promotional contract with
Lou DiBellaLouis John DiBella, Jr. is a boxing promoter and television/film producer. Among his past and present boxers are Jermain Taylor and Bernard Hopkins, both former middleweight world champions, the former of whom was dethroned by the new and current middleweight world champion Kelly Pavlik, also part...
. His next trainer was
Ronnie ShieldsRonnie Shields was a professional boxer in the Featherweight division and is currently a boxing trainer.-Amateur career:...
, who emphasized on a faster training pace. 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.
Involvement in other combat sports
Cintrón found
wrestlingAmateur wrestling is the most widespread form of sport wrestling. There are two international wrestling styles performed in the Olympic Games under the supervision of FILA : Greco-Roman and freestyle. Freestyle is possibly derived from the English Lancashire style...
and boxing to be an outlet from his personal troubles, so he started spending more and more of his time practicing those sports. While attending
William Tennent High SchoolWilliam Tennent High School is a public high school serving grades 9 through 12, located in Warminster, Pennsylvania.The school is the only public high school serving the Warminster, Upper Southampton, and Ivyland Centennial School District, located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.The school was...
in Warminster, Pennsylvania, he became an accomplished high-school wrestler on the same team as actor
Mike VogelMichael James "Mike" Vogel is an American actor and former fashion model. Vogel began acting in 2001, and has since appeared in several notable films and series, including The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Grind, Poseidon, and Cloverfield.-Personal life:Vogel was...
. The
University of Wisconsin–MadisonThe University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
and
Ohio State UniversityOhio State University is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the largest single-campus university in the United States. Ohio State is currently ranked by U.S...
offered him full wrestling scholarships, but an injury to his knee prevented his inclusion on these programs. Consequently, Cintrón he began boxing full time.
In April 2007, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. publicly claimed that any boxer could make the transition into
mixed martial artsMixed martial arts is a full contact combat sport that allows a wide variety of fighting techniques, from a mixture of martial arts traditions and non-traditions, to be used in competitions. The rules allow the use of striking and grappling techniques, both while standing and on the ground...
and win. In response,
Ultimate Fighting ChampionshipThe Ultimate Fighting Championship is a U.S.-based mixed martial arts organization. Dana White serves as the president of the UFC; Zuffa, LLC, controlled by the casino-moguls Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, owns it....
's president,
Dana WhiteDana White is the current President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship , a mixed martial arts organization based in the United States.- Biography :...
, issued him a challenge to fight the promotion's lightweight champion,
Sean SherkSean Keith Sherk is an American mixed martial arts fighter currently fighting for UFC. He currently holds a professional mixed martial arts record of thirty-three wins, four losses, and one draw...
. Mayweather later retracted and apologized, expressing that he did not wish to compete in the discipline. However, Cintrón stated that he was willing to fight Sherk in his place. "I want the fight," said Cintrón, who is 27-1 with 25 KOs. "I can wrestle. I can box. I can beat those UFC fighters at their own game. Tell Mr. White to make me an offer and I'll take on his guy...."
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
LancasterLancaster is a city in the South Central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and is the county seat of Lancaster County. With a population of 55,351, it is the eighth largest city in Pennsylvania, behind Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, Reading, Bethlehem, and Scranton...
to begin his professional career. 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. Cintrón took the fight on one week's notice and traveled to his opponent's hometown of
San AntonioSan Antonio is the second-largest city in the state of Texas and the seventh-largest city in the United States. The city is characteristic of other Southwest urban centers in which there are sparsely populated areas and a low density rate outside of the city. It was the fourth-fastest growing...
. 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
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
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 BoxingHBO World Championship Boxing is a sports television series, premiering in January 1973 that has shown a number of significant boxing events in the last three decades....
debut, knocking out Teddy Reid in eight rounds.
KO MagazineKO Magazine is a popular United States boxing magazine. It was first published in 1979, to compete with The Ring.During the 1980s, KO Magazine, nicknamed "The knockout boxing magazine", ran some popular features, such as a round-by-round section where the most important fights were described punch...
featured Cintrón in an article, which compared his punching power to that of
Félix TrinidadFélix 'Tito' Trinidad, Jr. is a Puerto Rican professional boxer, considered as one of the best boxers in that archipelago's history. When he was an amateur Trinidad won five National Amateur Championships in Puerto Rico...
and
Thomas HearnsThomas "Hitman" Hearns , is an outstanding American 8-time world champion professional boxer in six different categories or weights.Hearns became the first ever quadruple world champion in boxing history....
.
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 MargaritoAntonio Margarito in Torrance, California is a Mexican boxer and is a former World Boxing Association Welterweight Champion. He is also a former International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization Welterweight champion...
on April 23, 2005, as part of the undercard of a
Shane Mosley"Sugar" Shane Mosley is a boxer from Pomona, California. He has won world titles in three weight divisions. He is the current WBA Welterweight Super Champion-Amateur career:...
win by unanimous decision against the
GuatemalanGuatemalan may refer to:* Something of, from, or related to the country of Guatemala* A person from Guatemala, or of Guatemalan descent. For information about the Guatemalan people, see Demographics of Guatemala and Culture of Guatemala. For specific persons, see List of Guatemalans.* Note that...
-American boxer
David EstradaDavid Estrada is a Guatemalan-Mexican boxer who is from Chicago.-Amateur career:David Estrada is originally from Chicago where he started his amateur career. He won several titles such as the Chicago Park District Championship in 1993, the PAL National Championship in 1997 and the Texas State...
. Cintrón was dropped by Margarito four times en route to a fifth-round knockout loss.
In early 2006, Cintrón rebounded with a tenth-round technical knockout of Estrada, 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
IBFIBF may refer to:*International Boxing Federation is one of several boxing organisations*International Banking Facility is a legal entity of a US bank*International Baseball Federation , an international governing body for baseball...
crown that had been vacated on June 20, 2006 by Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
On July 14, 2007, Cintrón was dominant in his first title defense, knocking down
ArgentineArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
Walter Matthysse three times on his way to a knockout victory twenty-nine seconds into the second round. 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 WilliamsPaul Williams is an American boxer and is the reigning two-time WBO welterweight champion. At 6'2, Paul is considered extremely tall for a welterweight. He is also considered by many to be the most "avoided fighter in the world".- Career :Paul got his start in boxing from the suggestion of a...
. (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.
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 CottoMiguel Ángel Cotto is a Puerto Rican professional boxer. As an amateur, Cotto represented Puerto Rico in the lightweight and light welterweight divisions at various international events including the 1999 Pan American Games, the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 1998 Junior World Championships where he...
vs.
Alfonso GomezAlfonso Salvador Gómez Becerra is a professional boxer and competitor on reality TV show The Contender, where he ended up ranked third out of sixteen fighters.-Personal life:...
. 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'douLovemore N'dou is an Australian based South African boxer.He was the IBF world light welterweight champion, until he lost the title to Paul Malignaggi.-Fight career:Lovemore started boxing a the age of 16...
, competing in an eliminatory fight sanctioned by the IBF. The fight took place on November 15, 2008, in a card held in
Nashville, TennesseeNashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is the second most populous city in the state after Memphis. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state...
. Early in the fight, Cintrón began on the offensive, while N'dou clinched regularly. 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. 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.
Light middleweight division
Cintrón's victory over N'dou made him
Joshua ClotteyJoshua Clottey is a Welterweight boxer who hails from Accra, Ghana, but now lives in the Bronx, New York. He is the former IBF Welterweight Champion.- Professional Career :...
's mandatory challenger. The fight was discussed and preliminary agreements scheluded it for February 21, 2009. However, after receiving a more lucrative offer, Cintrón decided to fight
Sergio Gabriel MartínezSergio Gabriel Martinez is a Spanish-based Argentine light middleweight professional boxer he is the current WBC Super Welterweight champion and is a former WBC Latino and IBO light middleweight champion.-Professional career:Martinez turned professional in December 1997 in Ituzaingo, Buenos Aires,...
for the
World Boxing CouncilThe World Boxing Council was initially established by 11 countries: the United States, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil plus Puerto Rico, met in Mexico City on February 14, 1963, upon invitation of the then President of Mexico, Adolfo...
's interim light middleweight championship. The bout took place on February 14, 2009, and ended in a controversial
majority drawA majority draw is an outcome in several full-contact combat sports, including boxing, mixed martial arts, and others sports involving striking. In a majority draw, two of the three judges agree that neither fighter won , while the third judge indicates one fighter being the clear winner on...
. The opening rounds held no meaningful action, with Cintron holding an early edge due to his aggression and cleaner punching. By the fourth round, Martinez started moving around with his hands down in an effort to draw Cintron into a mistake, but to no avail, as there continued to be more clinching than punching. Martinez opened a cut over Cintron’s left eye early in the fifth round. Late in the seventh round, a left hand to the head hurt Cintron, and after backing into the ropes, he went down to his knees before Martinez could attack. Cintron claimed he was headbutted while the referee Frank Santore continued the count. After Cintron's protests and a lot of confusion in the ring, Santore allowed the bout to continue, saying Cintron was up at nine and that he never stopped the fight. Martinez went after Cintron once the eighth round commenced and taunted him after landing punches to the head. Cintron responded with sustained action of his own, but it was Martinez ending the round with another left hand to the head. The ninth round was favorable for Martinez, but Cintron rebounded in the tenth round. Martinez lost a point for a punch to the back of the head in the final round. Scores were 116-110 and 113-113 twice for Martinez.
Professional championships
See also