Middle Man: Williams v Cintron Preview & Prediction
By: Andrew Harrison
Category: antonio margarito, kelly pavlik, kermit cintron, paul williams, sergio martinez
| Aperture: | f/6.3 |
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| Focal Length: | 45mm |
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| Shutter: | 1/2500 sec |
| Camera: | Canon EOS 7D |
Paul Williams is playing high stakes piggy in the middle right now. The man who’ll fight anyone but who no-one else ever seems keen to fight, is chasing his tail looking for a premier appointment similar to the one we saw play out this past weekend. A glance up at middleweight and he can spy lucrative bouts with new champion Sergio Martinez and the man the Argentinean deposed, Kelly Pavlik. A cursory look down at welterweight reveals the superstar duo of Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, two men who seem destined never to meet. Williams, meanwhile, sits in the middle and marks time against Kermit Cintron on Saturday.
Williams (38-1, 27 KO’s) is a genuine throwback fighter, patrolling the three divisions from 147 to 160 pounds like a big cat does the plains, scouring for its next meal. At 6’ 2” and with a gigantic 82” reach, he’s freakishly big for a welter and a stylistic nightmare for anyone who dares to cross swords with him at that particular poundage. Despite his success up at middleweight, Williams and his trainer George Peterson maintain that 147 is where he performs best.
It was here that Williams emerged as a potential superstar, outpunching Antonio Margarito in the summer of ’07 to announce himself on the world stage. After suffering a blip against Carlos Quintana, “The Punisher” returned with a vengeance four months later, wiping the Puerto Rican out within a round in Connecticut. Since then, his two biggest wins have been up at middleweight where he has notched two fine decision victories over Ronald “Winky” Wright and the aforementioned Martinez.
Williams boxes beautifully from the southpaw stance, shooting out streams of accurate shots at his opponents, who usually find themselves outworked by the big man. Better when boxing tall, Williams has caught trouble when sitting down on his punches in an attempt to blast his way to victory. When the heavy stuff starts flying however, Williams keeps ticking and is more than happy to oblige the other man in a punch up, a no frills attitude which contributed to one of the finest fights of last year against Martinez in December.
Cintron will probably be the biggest hitter Williams has butted heads with. “El Asesino” packs a mighty wallop in his right hand and has levelled 28 of his 32 victims in a fight record which reads 32-2-1. A former welterweight titlist, Cintron has twice succumbed to the now disgraced Margarito, both times before the half way mark. On each occasion, Kermit appeared to wilt under pressure after the marauding Mexican brushed off his best shots before returning fire. Margarito could even be said to have bullied Cintron, knocking the ambition and fight out of him after convincing him mentally he had little chance of winning.
The other blemish on his record should really have been an additional loss rather than a draw, after Sergio Martinez outboxed him in Florida last year. Again, in this fight, Cintron looked to have given up in round seven after catching a left hand. Kermit sat out the count, only for the referee Frank Santore Jr. to fluff the call after Cintron complained erroneously that his demise had been the result of a head butt.
Despite this, Cintron rebounded with a brace of wins, the first over highly touted prospect Alfredo Angulo at light middleweight. If he can catch Williams right, he can get him out of there, and his ’07 kayo of Walter Matthysse remains etched in my memory, such was its ferocity.
Looking at the form lines, it’s pretty difficult to pick Cintron for the upset. Williams will be every bit as relentless as Margarito was, and just as speedy and accurate as Martinez. Cintron may only be one big punch away from turning the fight his way, however, pressure bursts pipes and I feel that he’ll be made to submit once again, somewhere around the ninth.
In the aftermath, Williams will be left standing at the crossroads, wondering whether to head north or return south, to catch the lift he’s been seeking for what seems like forever.
Photo credit: Jan Sanders
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