In front of a raucous crowd at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Andre Berto and Kermit Cintron both handled the aggressive nature of their respective foes in working their way towards unanimous decision wins.
Berto’s assignment was in the form of IBF Jr. Welterweight champion Juan Urango, who was moving up in weight to challenge for the Winter Haven’s WBC strap. Urango presented a completely different puzzle than anything Berto had ever seen but it was obvious from the outset that the Haitian was up for the challenge.
From the outset Berto controlled the flow of the contest with his speed and counterpunching, often cracking Urango with clean right hands. Having always shown a stout chin his entire career, Urango pressed forward undaunted and remained patient. The first two stanzas clearly went towards Berto but in the third round things got a bit more interesting. In this round Urango began to invest to the body and the shots downstairs seemed to be causing Berto extreme discomfort. In rounds four and five both men took turns winning over the crowd with close in-fight action. The speed and precision favored Berto but Urango was making an imprint through the sheer physicality of his attack.
Unfortunately for everyone in attendance the second half of the fight was far less compelling as Urango seemed to run out of answers and was at a loss as how to deal with Berto’s speed and athleticism. The occasional left hand from the southpaw Urango wasn’t nearly enough to sway the judges or turn the momentum and when the bell sounded for round twelve it was obvious that Berto was deserving of a win.
Official scores of 118-110 twice and 117-111 were read in the champion’s favor and the Berto contingent on hand let out a joyous cheer. With the win Berto now moves to 25-0 with 19 knockouts and has many options left at 147 pounds. At just 25 years of age he is just getting his feet wet in many regards towards his professional trek in the sport. Urango sees his record fall to 21-2-1 with 16 knockouts and the Columbian now has some serious decision making to do with his career.
Cintron Puts It All Together Against Angulo
Heading into the Kermit Cintron-Alfredo Angulo WBC Jr. Middleweight Title Eliminator, most observers felt that the heavy hands and pressure of Angulo would turn out to be the telling factors in the rugged Mexican winning the fight. It was seemed that Cintron, despite being a champion in the past, wasn’t up to the task of taming a young lion like Angulo and that he would eventually fold. Cintron, however, didn’t get the memo and instead went on to produce one of the finest efforts of his career in decisioning Angulo.
In the early rounds of their contest it became clear that Angulo would have trouble with Cintron’s reach and right hand, as the Puerto Rican built up an early momentum through counterpunching and effective boxing. Cintron seemed to take the first three rounds and despite the occasional success of Angulo, who remained always in Cintron’s face, it was obvious who was in control of the contest.
Angulo did have his best moments in the middle of the fight as he backed Cintron up against the ropes and unleashed furious body punches that seemed to truly take their toll. But the story of the fight in itself was just how well Cintron was able to handle the moment and he always found a way to fight back and take control back in the contest.
Towards the end of the fight Cintron seemed gas and Angulo began to turn up the pressure but it was too little, too late for the Mexicali native. Every time Angulo began to turn the tide in the fight Cintron would be right there answering him back and that was another key storyline to the bout.
After twelve rounds all three scorecards read 116-112 and Cintron walked away with a huge win to rejuvenate his career. Angulo was reported by some to be sick with the flu before the contest and he didn’t arrive to the site of the fight until the day of the weigh in, but regardless it’s obvious he has much to work on if he is going to take the next step forward as a professional.
For the contest Cintron landed 316 out of 1094 punches (29%) while Angulo connected on 957 out of 277 (29%). Afterwards Lou Dibella, Cintron’s promoter, released a statement saying that he felt Cintron had always been one of the most talented fighters in the world but that he was finally able to put everything together against the dangerous style of Angulo.
Undercard Results
Yusef Mack TKO4 DeAndrey Abron
Tor Hamer TKO2 Samuel Brown
Wilmer Vazquez MD6 Andrew Greeley
Jonathan Gonzalez TKO1 Laquel Fleming
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