by David P. Greisman

Kevin Cunningham (Alvarez): “I see Canelo Alvarez just totally dominating this fight. He should stop Kermit, but if he doesn’t, he’ll probably win every round.”

Henry Ramirez (Alvarez): “That’s a pretty interesting fight. I give Kermit a shot because he can punch. I think right now Alvarez is just really coming into his own. He’s tapped as the next big Mexican star. And I think he’ll beat Cintron, and maybe even stop him late.”

Eddie Mustafa Muhammad (Alvarez): “I like Alvarez. Please. Cintron, his last two fights showed me lack of motivation, and I don’t understand it because he has a good trainer in Ronnie Shields. You can only take a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink it.

“Ronnie’s doing the best he could, trying to get Cintron to throw more punches. His last fight, he was begging the cat to throw more punches. It didn’t come to him. I’m leaning toward Canelo Alvarez. He comes to punch. He comes to fight. I think it probably ends, not early but late, probably, eight or nine.”

John Scully (Alvarez): “I think Kermit probably knows this is his last chance. He may take it as his last chance, and I think he’s going to come out really hard, throwing the big bombs and really trying to make up for the things that happened with Margarito. But Canelo is good. First time I saw him was against Cotto’s brother [Jose Miguel], and he really impressed me. I thought he was an Irish kid.

“Even though I thought he was clearly losing to [Alfonso] Gomez last time, I thought he was coming on and was going to take over. I think it’s kind of like a breakout fight for him. I think he’s going to have to fight a little harder than he normally would have to. I think he’s going to beat Cintron, probably by decision.”

David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow David on Twitter at twitter.com/fightingwords2 or on Facebook at facebook.com/fightingwordsboxing, or send questions and comments to fightingwords1@gmail.com