Ex-welterweight titleholder Kermit Cintron will be moving back down to 147 pounds for his next fight, and promoter Lou DiBella told BoxingScene.com that they're looking to take on Miguel Cotto on June 13.
We'll all see how Cotto looks this Saturday when he faces Brit Michael Jennings on pay-per-view at Madison Square Garden, but for the moment there's really nothing wrong with Cotto taking on Cintron. It's a decent money fight with two Puerto Rican stars fighting on the eve of New York's giant Puerto Rican Day Parade. There's no doubt they could sell out MSG, and Shane Mosley and Golden Boy have hinted that they aren't too keen on a Mosley-Cotto rematch on that date in New York. There would be other options (Andre Berto, of course), but Cotto-Cintron is a legit fight, and probably a pretty decent one at that.
The weight is a fairly irrelevant issue, I think. Cintron looked no more lethargic at 154 than he usually does at 147 when presented with a good opponent, or one that can play head games with him and refuse to let him get into any sort of rhythm. Cintron isn't a counter-puncher, but he's a fighter who lives on responding to what's put in front of him. He doesn't really make the fight.
I think it's likely that Cotto outclasses Cintron, but Cintron packs a hell of a wallop and Cotto has a tendency to stay in the pocket and trade. He did it against Mosley, and he did it at 140. He's been down before. Whether or not Cintron has the speed and timing to catch him is another story.
Cintron's trainer, Ronnie Shields, is adamant that Cintron beat Sergio Martinez on Saturday night, by the way. I think nothing could be further from the truth, and that Shields did a pretty crummy job in Kermit's corner. They were lucky to get a draw.