By Lance Pugmire, Los Angeles Times
Kermit Cintron took a dive and lost his Saturday night super-welterweight fight to Paul Williams.
Cintron's dive wasn't the kind usually associated with boxing.
During the fourth round of a fight that was slow to become active, Puerto Rico's Cintron was rushing toward Williams when the 6-foot-3 southpaw slipped, causing Cintron's momentum to carry him through the ropes, toward a tennis-court landing at Carson's Home Depot Center that caused a fight-stopping injury.
"He hit his head twice, on a [television] monitor and then on the floor," Cintron promoter Lou DiBella said.
Cintron (32-3-1) remained face-down for minutes as Williams rested in the ring. Ringside doctor Paul Wallace then assessed that Cintron was "groggy," according to DiBella.
Cintron "feels like he's OK, he wanted to continue," DiBella said. "But the doctor said, 'No, you can't continue' "
That decision threw the fight, disputedly, to the judges' scorecards because of a California rule that says a bout can be decided by scorecards after the fourth round has begun. That differs with the Assn. of Boxing Commissions, which stipulates that four full rounds must be completed before the judges can determine a winner.
At the stoppage, almost midway through the round, judge James Jen Kin had Williams leading 40-36, judge Fritz Werner had Williams ahead 39-37, and judge Jerry Cantu gave all four rounds to Cintron, 40-36. Yet, a fourth round was judged without being completed.
Williams (39-1) accepted the victory almost in embarrassment, and suggested a rematch will be made.
"He hit me with a little [right-handed] shot, I hit him with one, we got tangled, and then he fell out of the ring," Williams said. "I know he wanted to fight. I know I wanted to fight. It's a strange way to get a win. I'll try to get a better one next time."
However, Williams' promoter, Dan Goossen, said he was not receptive "to look for a rematch." Goossen wants Williams to explore a richer fight in the welterweight division, which counts Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao as residents.
"There's nothing compelling to me, other than the uniqueness of how the fight was stopped, to do it over again," said Goossen, who also expressed some doubts about the severity of Cintron's injury.
Cintron was sent to a hospital for assessment.
DiBella and Cintron's trainer, Ronnie Shields, argued the bout should have been fought under ABC rules and should have been called a no-contest. They both demanded a rematch.
"Who should get a loss because of that?" DiBella asked. "I don't know what I can do, but I shouldn't have lost that fight. It was 3½ rounds. That's why there should be some uniform rules in boxing. Twenty years in this business, you see some weird [stuff]."
Williams started tentatively, and Cintron landed jabs and counterpunches in the first round. A good Williams left in the final 10 seconds was followed by a clean Cintron right.
The early inactivity drew heavy boos from the crowd, and Williams didn't become the pursuer until late in the third round. He landed two big lefts early in the fourth, and the action shifted left across the ring, with Cintron answering a Williams punch with a straight right before the entanglement, slip and ring dive.
Williams was hoping the fight would catapult him to a shot at Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao, but the outcome defused all that talk.
lance.pugmire@latimes.com
Source: articles.latimes.com
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