Photo: German Villasenor.

By Neil Grossman.

MARGARITO STOPS CINTRON AGAIN; WINS IBF BELT.

Saturday April 12th, 2008- In the first fight of the HBO televised, Top Rank / Maine Events / The Contenders Antonio "The Tijuana Tornado"Margarito ( 36-5 with 26 Kos) did his part of the welterweight double header showdown, scoring the big KO win at 1:57 of round six, handing Kermit Cintron (29-2 with 27 Kos) .his second loss, taking his IBF World Welterweight title and setting up an explosive in July against Miguel Cotto.

In round one Cintron circled and pumped a left jab, with Margarito carefully stalking, looking on for the improved Kermit's attack, going on to land a lead right , then alternated jabs and uppercuts. A big right by the defending champion right caught Margarito but did not hurt him, with Margarito smiling as he knew he could take his opponent's big shots once more, and walk right through themagain.
Margarito slightly outworked Cintron in the round.

The fighters began round two by circling with some exchanges.
Margarito scored a hard body shot, continuing to focus on Cintron's body, which would be the catalyst for his win later on in the fight.
A big uppercut by Margarito put the second round in the bag cutting Cintron alongside his left eye, same as in their first encounter.

In the third frame, Margarito blocked several punches to his head, scoring with body shots, and again using the uppercut.
Kermit scored to Antonio's head, with return fire coming back, him ducking down, receiving a couple of shots atop of the head, the referee would warn Margarito for rabbit punching.
A head clash left Margarito bledding from his left eyebrow, with corner man Francisco Espinoza doing a very good job controlling the bleeding for the remainder of the bout.

Margarito in full control would work himself in the inside, ripping uppercuts and damaging body work.
Kermit tried to fight back a little more in this round, but he kept on getting hit inside by the uppercuts. Cintron did however, score with a big overhand right towards the end of the round.

Round five has both fighters circling, with Kermit looping his punches. In response Margarito scores to the head of Cintron, then throws a left right combination to the body. Kermit complains again of getting hit behind the neck. Looked a little silly because it was really not much of anything. Margarito put up on lots of pressure in this round with combinations and forward movement, Cintron did have a good two first minutes scoring well and fast, but clearly was outworked and in trouble, holding on and looking the much for wear by the end of the round.

In round six Cintron circles, Margarito comes foward, putting pressure again, with Cintron pedaling back, Margarito tracked him down against the ropes, delivering a head shot, as Cintron attempted a counter left to Margarito's face, the Tijuana fighter delivered a picture perfect left shot to the ribcage, sending Cintron down, grimacing in pain, with the referee counting on, Margarito would wave Cintron to get up form the neutral corner. It was not to be as Cintron would not beat the count.
Margarito's crew would celebrate inside the ring, as Cintron remained for a few more minutes on the canvas, before regaining his upright stance and walking around the ring.

"We know he's a great puncher, a great fighter, but we knew that after the second round he slowed down a bit," ‘'We will be ready for Cotto when he wants'‘ Margarito would state after the fight.
It's all up in the air, as the proposed July super fight could be headed to Madison Square Garden or Las Vegas, depending on wether or not certain provisions are dealt between the promoter and commission.

COTTO STOPS GOMEZ IN FIVE.

A large crowd of mostly pro Cotto, Pro Puerto Rico fighters came to the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Saturday night, to witness their superstar, Miguel Angel Cotto (32-1, 25 kos), break down easily and methodically his Mexican opponent of "The Contenders" fame, Alfonso Gomez (1-4-2,8kos) to a stoppage at the end of the fifth round of their WBA welterweight title bout.

Cotto began by aiming for Gomez's head , later on focusing to the body.
By the end of round one the left eye area of Gomez appeared very red. After feeling a few punches thrown by Alfonso, it was apparent Cotto knew he was in no danger of getting hurt.

Round two they circled, Cotto circled in the second scoring to Gomez's body. Gomez went down for the first time in his career after absorbing a hard left- right combination that put him down to the canvas at the end of the round.
Round three displayed Cotto in his classical form with body shots, uppercuts, and left -right combinations to the head of the challenger. Gomez missed a lot, putting very little power in his attempts. At this point Cotto appeared to be taking his time, not rushing, almost playing with Gomez. At the end of the round, Gomez took a huge shot to the body that put him down once more at the bell.
By round four Cotto was scoring at will. He started the round with two lefts to the head of Gomez, then a left right, left right combo that had Gomez barely able to respond back.
This round was all Cotto.
Coming into the fifth, Cotto scored to the chin of Gomez, laying back and taking his time, since Gomez was hardly scoring at all.
A left to Gomez's body put Alfonso down but he bravely got up.Cotto seemed to be playing at this point, winding up his punches for the crowd.
The effective end to the bout came After round five on the advice of the ringside physician, with the referee calling it for Cotto by TKO.

"I tried to do everything in the fight, move, punch, put pressure, and I think my jab has been the difference in the last three fights."Cotto would say after the fight.

At the press conference Bob Arum mentioned a fight between Cotto and Margarito for possibly this summer.

In the undercard, Middleweight Richard Pierson(7-1,4kos) won by split decison over Angel David Gonzalez (6-5-2,3 kos) . The scores were 59-56 twice Pierson and 59-55 Gonzalez.

Feather weight Luis Cruz (5-0,3kos)scored a unanimous decision over Olvin Meja (3-2-1, 3kos). All three scores were 58-56. Miguel Cotto actually came out dressed in a suit to watch this fight and show support for the figher and corner, and after the decision was announced, returned to his dressing room to get ready for the main event
Super middleweights Don Mouton (3-2-1,3 kos) and Omar Coffi (0-0-1) fought to a draw. One judge had it Coffi 40-36, another Mouton 39-37, another a 38-38 draw.

The corner of Middleweight Roberto Irrizarry (2-4,0 kos) threw in the towel at 2:51 of round three giving his opponent, Ronny Venezuaela Vargas, the TKO victory. Vargas now has a 5-0, 4ko record.

An 8 round Super bantamweight fight had Jesus Rojas (11-0,9kos) win by TKO in 2:14 of round four. His opponent was Andre Ledesma whose record went down to (14-9-1, 9 ko's).
In June, Kelly Pavlik will be fighting again at Boardwalk Hall. Another large crowd is expected, so get your tickets as soon as you can.

As a side note, Arturo Gatti appeared at the press conference to give Cotto an award, which Gatti placed around Cotto's neck. Arturo told the crowd he is happy in his retirement and is selling a line of jewelry. He arrived in studded oversized sunglasses and the press crew enoyed the light moment. Gatti is always there to please in one way or another in Atlantic City!

See you in the next fight.

ultragerman@yahoo.com

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