By Ronnie Nathanielsz
World Boxing Council president Don Jose Sulaiman predicts that former world champion Kermit Cintron will provide a real test for undefeated Mexican star Saul "Canelo" Alvarez in their WBC super welterweight title fight on Saturday.
Sulaiman said “This is a great event and a great test for Canelo Alvarez. An opponent such as Cintron has faced the best in the division. To the WBC it’s a great pleasure to have this type of bout.”
Cintron who sparred with former world champion Shane Mosley and tough and promising Mike Lee said “I came here to fight for the WBC belt that Canelo has and I’ll give everything inside of me to do this" stressing that he had "trained hard" for the title fight.
Alvarez, who has been carefully nursed in his career by Golden Boy Promotions said "I’m ready and want to show that I’m a good fighter. Cintron is a great test but I’m sure I’ll be the winner."
The title fight takes place in Mexico City
Regarded as the hottest prospect in Mexican boxing Alvarez is a huge 8-1 favorite over Cintron although the challenger has fought some of the best in his division. The 21 year old Alvarez is undefeated with a record of 38-0-1 with 28 knockouts while Cintron, the former IBF welterweight champion has a record of 33-4-1 with 28 knockouts.
Cintron lost his title to Antonio Margarito. Following his loss to Margarito, Cintron drew against current middleweight king Sergio Martinez. Cintron was involved in a bizarre ending in his fight against Paul “The Punisher” Williams on May 8, 2010. Cintron was knocked out of the ring after an exchange and failed to recover within the allotted five minutes and lost a fourth round technical split decision.
After more than a one year layoff, Cintron returned to the ring and lost a disappointing ten round decision to Carlos Molina but came back to win a ten round decision against Antwone Smith on August 12.
The battle with Alvarez could be the chance Cintron has been waiting for to turn his career around.
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