Breaking It Down: Anto...

By Patrick Kehoe: For most boxing insiders, if not boxing fans generally, the most compelling fight on the April 23, ESPN pay per view boxing card from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas will be the WBO welterweight champion fight between veteran champion Antonio Margarito from Mexican against the talented Puerto Rican American contender Kermit Cintron. The stoic veteran Margarito looks to hold off the up and coming talent known as "The Killer." Margarito, 31-4 (22) lost 3 of his first twelve fights, but has only lost once since June 1996 and that was at jr. middleweight to Daniel Santos due to a head-butt induced cut stoppage in the ninth round. The book on Margarito is that he's a rangy, tenacious stalker, who wears out his opposition with constant effective aggression, volume punching and diligent body work. Though always there to be hit, Margarito is durable and brave from the opening bell to the end of a fight, his trademark aggression and psychological resolve still intact after thirty five fights, including encounters with Andrew Lewis, Antonio Diaz, Frankie Randall and Danny Perez. If there's an underrated world class performer of merit in boxing today, it's got to be the silent assassin from Tijuana, Mexico, Antonio Margarito.Kermit Cintron, has been pegged by boxing insiders as a future champion virtually since his pro debut in October, 2000. The fact that only two of the twenty four fighters having battled Cintron as a professional have stayed till the last bell tells us something about Cintron as an offensive machine. Since his breakout victory over Teddy Reid in July, 2004 Cintron has been nursing a damaged left hand. A massive hitter with his signature left hook, Cintron has also developed a potent right hand, while improving over all ring mobility. Like Margarito, defense is Cintron's liability, though the Puerto Rican born resident of Reading, Pennsylvania keeps a much more authoritative defensive posture on the outside than his Mexican rival.If Cintron has the marquee shine of the rising talent with explosive punches, Margarito has the proven track record of a championship level campaigner as his vital counter weight. There's a quality of Carlos Monzon about Margarito's long reach, punishing jab supporting a thudding right hand and hearty work rate. Though unconventional and awkward moving forward, Margarito's incremental hitting tends to foster attack option boxing as an act of willfulness. Lacking fluency from the waist down, the WBO welterweight champion tends to release his hands in multiples. Dedicated to his bruising searching jab, he delivers his left hook to the side of the body as often as he dictates range with his over the top right hand from downtown. Margarito seldom forgets to go to the body, working inside with as much leverage as he can; he's effective on the inside for a long armed welterweight. In facing Cintron, he'll be up against a fighter with long arms who moves better than he does, for the first half of the fight at any rate. Cintron, when fit, has a very good clean-up left hook, a pulverizing shot that can stop an opponent or debilitate him. Yet the capacity of Cintron to keep delivering his defining power hooks has become problematic, just when it seemed the twenty-five year old Cintron was developing his professional stamina as a power hitter. Such is the negative impact of protracted injury. In Kermit Cintron's case, his left hand injury sustained against Teddy Reid in June of 2004 remains a key talking point for Team Cintron. More on that issue later.The major question remains can Cintron contest a drawn out championship fight in which he's being hit repeatedly? Because we know Margarito has and can go to war and prosper; it's almost in his nature to gut it out and punish, notwithstanding his semi-polished boxing traits. Cintron, we all know, has early round power hitting voltage of a kind that could put a too eager Margarito in serious trouble, though it's hard to imagine Margarito being stopped in the first or second round. Such is the champion's re-cooperative powers and over all physical strength. Margarito prides himself on being a toughened professional of tested ring virtue, just as he prides himself in his ability to punch with a wide range of effective rhythms, being tactically punitive.The essential difference with regard to physical strength between these two fighters is that Margarito applies is power generally, as blunting force trauma hitting what's in his line of sight, loading up his best punches once he's found the mark. Cintron applies his power in more pin point single hitting selections that are designed to score clean knockouts by taking advantage of instantaneous moments of opportunity. Margarito hammers flat the fighter's metal before him. We might say conversely, Cintron spears his left hook or straight right hand in a flash of instinctive attacking aggression. Cintron's body has more the quality of a spring, compressed to uncoil like a cobra when he projects his power hitting.Team Cintron have, however, been working hard during their training camp to retool some of Cintron's set up punches mostly his lead left jab, trying to emphasize the need to create best case hitting angles; as well, Cintron will be looking to economize on his power shots to ensure he's still hitting viably late in the fight, when Margarito has a tendency to hurry into hitting range trying to over work his offensive positions. Though the champion has shown himself strong down the stretch, Team Cintron feel that's when Margarito could be vulnerable. They note, and rightly, that Margarito has effectively ended many of his upper case outing early and so he's not really as proven over the championship distance as they might claim.There's little doubt that Margarito will not be unhappy if the fight is sloppy or roughly heated early, the fighters working on the inside for advantages or having to work off the ropes. In fact, off the record Team Margarito acknowledge this would be a preferential outcome for the champion. Still, as a matter of professional discipline, they know that for the first five rounds the champion will need to be on the outside angling in or right on top of Cintron, forcing him to cover, then attempt to hit on the counter moving backward, making "The Killer" considerably less explosive. These are tall welterweights, both marginally over 5'11", with the capacity to hit from range. Cintron has the clear advantage not only in speed of hand but the ability to apply that speed from the outside. Margarito will shuffle and hustle to get into the middle distance - the power alley - by jabbing at a generalized target and then working underneath. The suspicion in the Margarito camp is that Cintron's fitness will have been compromised by the fact he's been out of action due to his left hand injury sustained during his eighth round stoppage of Teddy Reid July 17, 2004. Additionally, Team Margarito acknowledge that Cintron is a good power hitter, with leverage on his shots yet, are not convinced he's as effective deep into fights if he's pushed physically and mentally. Margarito, simply put, believes that a protracted war favors him decidedly! And that's a major key to understanding what the Mexican champion will be bringing to the contest. Cintron, born in Puerto Rico, now living in the United States plays down the Mexican vs. Puerto Rican angle to the fight, while admitting that for some fans it cannot help but be an issue. For the champion he fights for his family and the pride he takes in his professionalism, having survived personal hardships, honing his pedantic yet effective style over a career that began in 1994.Keep an eye out: Both fighters like to land with their left uppercuts. Sometimes Margarito angles his uppercut so it hits the upper chest or at the point of the chin on the inside, where Cintron tends to throw it exclusively at closer range and then deposit a right hand to the side of his opponents body, creating a unique power hitting combination. Look for those punches once the fighters are opting to move into hitting range more freely.The issue of cuts, a random element always factoring in when least expected, has tended to crop up in Margarito's fights now that he's bending down more when fighting on the inside. Since both fighters have long reach and will have to cover that middle distance against each other quickly, the possibility will be there for some accidental head butting; at least it looks like a possibility given their styles.Contributing Editor Patrick Kehoe may be reached at pkehoe@telus.net