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Martinez-Cintron a done deal

Fighters Network
15
Jan

An agreement was reached for Sergio Martinez, the WBC's “interim” 154-pound titlist, to face former welterweight beltholder Kermit Cintron on the Feb. 14 HBO-televised triple header that includes Alfred Angulo-Ricardo Mayorga and Nate Campbell-Ali Funeka.

“It's a done deal,” said Lou DiBella, promoter of both Martinez and Cintron.

Cintron (30-2, 27 knockouts) is the third scheduled opponent for Martinez (44-1-1, 24 KOs) in the past two weeks. The slick and speedy southpaw was slated to face Joe Greene in the co-feature to Saturday's Andre Berto-Luis Collazo title match, but the New York prospect had to withdraw due to kidney stones.

Then a fight was supposedly made with WBA 154-pound titleholder Daniel Santos for the Feb. 14th card, but the Puerto Rican veteran claimed that announcement was made without his consent and added that he would need more preparation time to be ready for such a tough matchup.



The Martinez-Cintron matchup was put together when talks for Cintron's mandatory shot at IBF welterweight titlist Joshua Clottey stagnated over money issues.

“Cintron will get paid a little more than twice as much (as he was offered to fight Clottey),” DiBella said. “It's a good fight, an interesting matchup. Martinez is on a roll, but Cintron's a dangerous opponent. Martinez is so fast that he gets relaxed and drops his hands a lot. It only takes one right hand from Cintron to end a fight.”

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