Former welterweight titlist and current 154-pound contender Kermit Cintron told Primera Hora (link in Spanish) that he turned down an offer to fight Joshua Clottey on December 5, citing his October 24 date in Puerto Rico as his main reason.

Cintron (31-2-1, 27 KO) has fought twice in 2009, getting a gift draw in February against Sergio Martinez and then upsetting Alfredo Angulo in May in a WBC 154-pound eliminator bout, a fight that seemed designed to get the rising Mexican star Angulo a title shot, which was ruined when Cintron fought arguably the best fight of his career.

His October 24 fight, by the way, will be against Juliano Ramos (15-2, 12 KO), a Brazilian who was knocked out by Mike Jones in his last fight in August 2008. One wonders if this low-level fight really should be enough to keep Cintron from taking an HBO date with Clottey. He was also discussed as a potential Shane Mosley opponent recently. I understand his desire to fight in Puerto Rico, which he's never done, but seriously, he's passing up a lot of money and a big chance to make some serious waves.

As for Clottey, it still looks like the frontrunners are Luis Abregu and Kendall Holt. It's interesting that most of the talk for this card, which features a big fight between Kelly Pavlik and Paul Williams, is now centering on Clottey's opponent. Pavlik-Williams is done and good to go, but Clottey is seemingly having a hell of a time figuring out an opponent. He was going to fight Shane Mosley on December 26 before HBO pulled the plug, and now he's been allegedly turned down by Cintron and has turned down Sergio Martinez.