Brunson vs. Cintron: A Blast From the Not-so-Distant Past

This Philly war (pardon the redundancy) got some coverage but for the most part it was ignored even though it was a quintessential crossroads fight between two boxers with very high knockout percentages. In one corner was former world champion Kermit “The Killer” Cintron (39-6-3, 30 KOs). In the other was Philly home-boy Tyrone “Young Gun” Brunson (24-6-2, 23 KOs) who won his first 19 fights by first round stoppage, breaking the record held by the legendary Edwin Valero. (However — and this is a big however — during this skein Brunson fought only one fighter with a winning record. Eventually, his record would be broken by the late Ali Raymi, a mysterious Yemeni boxer, but that intriguing story warrants a separate treatment.)

As for the power punching Cintron, he won the interim WBO world welterweight title against roughhousing Teddy Reid in 2004 and then captured the vacant IBF world welterweight title against Mark Suarez in 2006. After two successful defenses, he would lose it to a prime and rampaging Antonio Margarito by a savage KO in 2008. Ironically, he had lost to Margarito — then the defending WBO champion — in 2005 in the same brutal manner.

After being stopped by Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in Mexico City on November 26, 2011, Kermit went undefeated in nine straight bouts though two were draws and there was a two-year layoff between 2014 and 2016.

After opening his career 21-0-1, Tyrone Brunson’s career spiraled downhill. Between December 2009 and October 2015, he lost six of seven, a bad run that started with a TKO loss to Carson Jones. He regrouped and KOd limited Carlos Hernandez, drew with undefeated Ismael Garcia and beat tough Brandon Quarles by SD. All three fights were in Philadelphia.

Thus, the stage was set for the crossroads battle in Philly at the 2300 Arena on June 24, 2017. What would ensue would be a solid Fight-of-the-Year candidate.

The Slugfest

I went down to the crossroads
Fell down on my knees
Down to the crossroads
Fell down on my knees
Asked the Lord above for mercy
Take me, if you please

The first three rounds featured Cintron picking his spots and connecting with some sharp right hands, but Brunson would always come back and even things out. Then all hell broke loose in the fourth.

“The Killer” lived up to his nickname and decked Brunson with a perfectly timed left hand. Later in the same round, he dropped Brunson again, this time from an accumulation of punches with Brunson on the ropes. Brunson survived, just barely, but it appeared that he would be ripe for the kill at the beginning of the next round.

However, something happened between rounds as Kermit came out eager to end matters but was caught by a perfect left that sent him down and hurt. He was on wobbly legs when he got up. The heavy-handed Brunson then attacked with both barrels and sent Cintron down two more times before the sudden and unexpected assault was stopped by referee Shawn Clark at 1:21.

Another Philly War had been entered into the books. Ty Brunson got through the crossroads to fight another day which he did on December 1, 2017, by stopping Manny Woods at the 2300 Arena, upping his KO Percentage to 71 percent. Kermit Cintron fought more recently. His fight with up-and-comer Marquis Taylor in February of this year ended in the third round because of an accidental head butt. In July, “The Killer” announced his retirement.

Ted Sares is one of the oldest active full power lifters and Strongman competitors and recently won the Maine State Champions in his class. He is a member of Ring 10, and Ring 4’s Boxing Hall of Fame.

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