SHERMAN OAKS – When Paul Williams walks into The Home Depot Center ring Saturday night, will he overlook Kermit Cintron?
Of course. Williams is 6-foot-3, at least. Cintron is 5-foot-11, or thereabouts. Every time Williams comes to receive the instructions, he's overlooking somebody. Everybody but Rick James has called him a "freak of nature."
But when Williams showed up at Sisley Restaurant here Wednesday, promoter Dan Goossen and trainer George Peterson started talking about Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Since Williams is 38-1 with 27 knockouts and has roamed through three divisions spreading havoc, they feel that a fight with either Magic or Bird, boxing version, is Williams' destiny.
"I think they're looking over me," Cintron said, "but I keep myself pretty quiet when it comes to that. Come Saturday it will be a hell of a fight. I'm ready to go 12 hard rounds."
Right, which is why Williams had better pull down the periscope and look straight at Cintron. Besides, how can Williams look past Cintron when he knows exactly who's behind him?
If Cintron can make Williams go 12 rounds, or even beat him, that will not enhance the marketability of a fighter so dangerous that nobody wants any part of him anyway, and so lightly recognized that every time you mention Williams, promoter Bob Arum sneers, "He can't sell a ticket."
Williams has only two knockouts in his past seven fights. Although he generates better punch stats than anybody, he needs to do something You Tube-able to make himself attractive to either Mayweather or Pacquiao and the pay-per-view accountants.
That is pressure, because the act of defeating Cintron has eluded all but one man.
That man, Antonio Margarto, did it twice, but Cintron is coming off a draw with Sergio Martinez, now the middleweight champ after he conquered Kelly Pavlik, and an impressive victory over Alfredo Angulo.
"Kermit shouldn't have fought Margarito the first time because he had been off for a year with a broken hand and they just threw him in there," said Ronnie Shields, who has trained Cintron in his past four victories. "The second time, I didn't see him throw a jab. I didn't see body shots. Kermit just tried to overpower him, and you don't do that to Margarito."
Cintron made a reputation with his large right hand and his uppercut. Now, he says, he's learned to move as well as stick.
"I need to be smart in the ring and be myself," Cintron said. "I used to be concerned with what the media said, with the stupid comments people make. People wanted me to knock everybody out. It's in my nature, of course, but it's not always gonna happen."
Williams is favored because he beat Martinez and Margarito, and because his nonstop offense has served as his best defense. But if somebody can slip inside that car-wash attack, there are some ribs there to be punished.
"Paul doesn't fight to his height," Cintron said. "And people always have the wrong game plan. They don't put pressure on him. They try to box him and move him around. What you have to do is step on his foot and move him back. It'll be interesting to see if he can take my punches. We'll throw the uppercut in there as well."
"Paul has a bigger name but Kermit is a better fighter," Shields said. "He just had to be more than Kermit The Knockout Guy. I train guys to fight 12 rounds. If you don't knock the guy out in the third round, then what? You got nine rounds left.
"But Kermit came to the sport late. He didn't fight in the amateurs as soon as Paul did. In comparison he's really a younger guy."
Even by the calendar, the 30-year-old Cintron is only three months older, even though his years have been harder.
When his mother died, 8-year-old Kermit and his family moved from Puerto Rico to Warminster, Pa., where he lived with his uncle, a former fighter named Ben Serrano. Cintron's father died five years later. Cintron became a noted high school wrestler and was 10th in a junior college wrestling tournament before he turned to boxing at age 19.
Now he can impress boxing's revitalized fan base. The Mayweather-Pacquiao dealings have stimulated the general appetite, even in the wake of Mayweather's repetitive romp over Shane Mosley.
"It was boring
," Shields said. "Shane looked like he was 50 years old. But Floyd can do that. He's a great fighter." 
Yeah, like 41-0 great. They say every fighter is a sucker for someone else's style. Where on earth can we find someone whose style trumps Mayweather's?
"Kermit Cintron," Shields said, with a smile. "Strong guy with a jab. That's what you need."
mwhicker@ocregister.com
Source: ocregister.com
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