by Fox Doucette
Touted by Bob Arum as a potential opponent for Manny Pacquiao when he first signed with Top Rank, Kermit Cintron (32-4, 28 KOs) seems a far cry from that after a loss a month ago to Carlos Molina. Cintron, who hasn’t won a fight since October 24, 2009 against Juliano Ramos and hasn’t beaten a meaningful opponent since his win over Alfredo Angulo over two years ago, takes on Antwone Smith (20-2, 12 KOs) in the main event of ESPN2’s penultimate Friday Night Fights event of the year on August 12th.
Smith has compiled his record mostly on the South Florida club circuit, and his only major step up in class was a ninth-round TKO loss to B+ level fighter Lanardo Tyner on July 9, 2010 (Tyner, for his part, has fallen victim to Saul Alvarez and Lamont Peterson). Smith’s last fight, coming only three weeks ago, was a 10-round unanimous decision over a completely washed-up Vivian Harris, which says more about Smith’s lack of power than about his boxing ability that he was unable to get Harris out of there.
For Cintron, it is hard to tell just what’s left of his career. Is he like Harris, a shadow of his former self, destined to become an opponent for people who are decidedly not Manny Pacquiao as his career falls into decline? Or will he knock Smith out and take the first step toward the promise he showed in his win over Angulo and majority draw against middleweight king Sergio Martinez? This should be an intriguing fight because it is impossible to tell just what Kermit Cintron has left.
The co-feature, if it can be called such, pits fringe prospect at lightweight Dannie Williams (18-1, 14 KOs) against Antonio Cervantes (16-5-5, 11 KOs). Cervantes is in as an opponent here; against anyone with even a shred of talent in his career he has been knocked out. If anything, Cervantes reminds the viewer of Harrison Cuello, an opponent who can give rounds and ultimately test out a prospect’s ability to fight mid-level competition. Williams has fought Cuello in the past, scoring an eight-round unanimous decision in which Williams dropped Cuello three times. A similar result is very likely here; nobody is under any illusion that this will be a competitive fight.
The Boxing Tribune will have a full recap of the night’s televised action shortly after the fights conclude. Keep it here—we’re your authority on “Your Boxing Authority”.
Fox Doucette covers Friday Night Fights for The Boxing Tribune. His column, The Southpaw, runs on Thursdays. Fan mail, hate mail, and comments lamenting Ruslan Provodnikov’s dropping out of the FNF finale due to an injury can be sent to beatcap@gmail.com.
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