Shane Mosley: Who’s Next For Shane? Baldomir or Cintron?
WBA light middleweight champion Shane Mosley (43-4, 37 KO’s) has an open date on his fight calender for February 10th, with only the prospects of fighting either Carlos Baldomir or Kermit Cintron during that open date. Previously, Mosley had slim hopes of fighting either Floyd Mayweather or Antonio Margarito. However, Mayweather opted for a fight with Oscar De La Hoya, while Margarito injured his wrist in his fight with Joshua Clottey. Like I said, it was a long shot, at best. Other than those bouts, Mosley has a chance to fight Cory Spinks, the IBF light middleweight champion.
All the same, Mosley has reportedly showed zero interest in fighting the defensive-minded Spinks, mostly because of the problem of looking good against him, not to mention the problem of having to catch him. Of the three, Cintron would seem to be the best in terms of reputation, at least for the time being, that is. With a record of 27-1, with 25 knockouts, Cintron brings a lot of power and an almost unblemished record into a potential big bout with Mosley.
Alas, Cintron was badly exposed by Margarito, in April 2005, losing by 5th round knockout. While Cintron had the much more substantial power, he was far slower than Margarito and with a more limited punch assortment than the Mexican fighter. The end result was a one-sided beating from the first round until the bitter end in the 5th. However, Cintron still retains his awesome power and his tendency for dramatic endings, like his bout with David Estrada, that ended with a remarkable 10th round knockout, when Cintron landed a huge right hand in the 10th round. Up until that time, the fight was still up in there as to whom the winner would be.
While it lasts, Cintron would have an excellent shot at stopping Mosley, if he can land something big in the early rounds, before he begins to routinely tire out. Mosley has had to fight few real power punchers in his career, other than Vernaon Forrest, he’d be put to a big test by Cintron’s power shots, which are considerably more devastating than Vernon Forrest, a fighter that twice defeated Mosley. In those bouts, Mosley had difficulties trading shots with Forrest and was knocked down in the process during the 1st fight.
If I were to guess, I’d say that Mosley is going to fight Cintron next, mainly because of the fact that he’s the more popular fighter and with a large and growing fans base in the United States, it would be a fight that would almost guarantee that there was a huge audience viewing it. More than that, Cintron is often compared to big punching fighters of the past, like Julian Jackson and Gerald McClellan, both of whom were devastating right hand punchers in the class of Cintron. In the near future, after Mosley retires, Cintron will probably be the star in the welterweight and light middleweight divisions. What better way for Mosley to go out in his last couple of years, than to take on one of boxing’s rising stars?
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Posted December 9th, 2006 l 103 views
