By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse
Southpaw Paul Williams is nicknamed, "The Punisher," and Saturday night's opponent, Kermit Cintron, calls himself, "The Killer."
They will bring a combined record of 70-3-1, with 55 knockouts into the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles for their HBO-televised bout.
"This is one not to miss, because there are two guys in this fight who fight crowd-pleasing styles. They both have knockout power. They are both boxers. They're warriors," said Lou DiBella, who promotes Cintron, to Elie Seckbach of FanHouse. "They'll fight anybody. And when they get in there, they let it all out and they leave it in the ring."
Although each is capable of getting on his bicycle and punching in volume, Williams' manager and trainer, George Peterson, does not expect that sort of a display.
"It's going to be an exciting fight. You're going to see some blood in this fight," said Peterson. "Some of the big fights that you've witnessed in the last, two, three months or so, there was not a nose bleed, not an eye swollen. But in this one, you're going to see some blood."
There will be no title on the line for the 28-year-old Williams (38-1, 27 KOs) or the 30-year-old Cintron (32-2-1, 28 KOs), who will fight at the 154-pound, junior middleweight limit.
But what is on the line for each of the former world champions is a potential lucrative payday, perhaps against a Manny Pacquiao, a Floyd Mayweather, a Sergio Martinez or an Alfredo Angulo.
"Paul Williams and I are not here for the money. We're trying to fight the best and be the best. I believe Paul Williams is the best, and he believes I'm the best, and that's why we're fighting," said Cintron.
"A lot of fighters are avoiding us, but my attitude is to fight the best. To be the best, you have to fight the best," said Cintron. "That's why I'm here -- to fight the best and win, and be closer to the bigger fights."
The nearly 6-foot-3 Williams has fought in the welterweight (147), junior middleweight and middleweight (160 pounds) divisions and still maintains his versatility to do so.
"It isn't killing us so far. Everything's good. So if it's not broke don't fix it. To me it's kind of fun. People can't really categorize me," said Williams.
"It's hard, because you can't get anybody to fight you," said Williams. "It takes discipline because once you finally pick a weight, you've got to get up or down in weight. I kind of like it."
Cintron has competed mostly at 147 pounds but has fought above that weight close to 15 times, including his past three matchups, which have been as a junior middleweight.
"All of them are comfortable for me. The weight doesn't matter to me," said Cintron. "I'm more comfortable with getting a fight and then working on what we've got to work on."
Williams is coming off of December's 160-pound, majority decision victory over Sergio Martinez (45-2-2, 24 KOs), a clash of southpaws that ended Martinez's run of 28-0-1, with 18 knockouts since being stopped by Antonio Margarito in February of 2000.
Already the WBC junior middleweight champion, Martinez dethroned Kelly Pavlik (36-2, 32 KOs) last month for the WBC and WBO middleweight titles by unanimous decision.
Although Williams was cut badly around both eyes and required post-fight surgery following his bout with Martinez, he enjoyed virtually every minute of their fight.
"When we fought, I had looked into the crowd, and I got caught, and I didn't see the punch and I went down. So I was like, 'We've got to get it, now.' But it was a good thing for the fans, because they got to see a good, drag out fight," said Williams of a battle during which both competitors were floored in the first round.
"Mr. Peterson, he was kind of mad at me, because he was telling me to go to the body and all of that, but I was so pumped up because I had got dropped. And I was in the mind frame like, 'Okay, this a war, this is a fight, this is what everybody comes out to see -- two guys, going back and forth,'" said Williams.
"And I was in my rhythm, so I was like, 'I'm just going to go get it the way that I can get it.' I could have done a lot better, with head movement and stuff like that, but I just wanted to fight," said Williams. "I wanted to make him fight, tire him out in the later rounds. I knew that if I could have gone to the body and maybe stopped him, but I was looking for a head shot. I wanted to spank him."
Williams is riding a five-bout winning streak that includes three knockouts since being dethroned as WBO welterweight champ via unanimous decision against Puerto Rican southpaw Carlos Quintana (27-2, 21 KOs) in February of 2008.
Williams regained the crown from Quintana with a first-round knockout in their return bout in June 2008, his first of three consecutive first-round stoppages.
Prior to facing Martinez, Williams dominated a one-sided, unanimous decision over former world champion Winky Wright in April at 160 pounds.
"Kermit's a big puncher and can box, too. I've shown that I'm a big puncher and I'm a boxer too. I don't have to prove anything to anyone. I don't care what people think about me as a fighter,"
"I just have to go out and do my thing," said Williams. "I just have to go out and execute my game plan and my strategy, because you could be looking for one thing then get another thing."
Cintron is 3-0-1 with one knockout since losing his IBF title by sixth-round knockout in April 2008 to Margarito, whom Williams dethroned by decision to become WBO king in July 2007.
Cintron, who lost by knockout to Margarito for the second time, is coming off October's junior middleweight stoppage of Juliano Ramos (15-3, 12 KOs).
Prior to Ramos, Cintron earned a May 2009, 12-round unanimous decision over Alfredo Angulo in a WBC title eliminator matchup before battling Martinez to a disputed draw in February 2009.
"I think that it's going to be a great, great fight, no matter who wins. I think that you're going to see great entertainment and great boxing," said DiBella.
"I agree with Mr. Peterson that you're going to see some blood in this fight," said DiBella. "I just believe that it's going to be his guy that's going to do most of the bleeding."
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
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