Thomas Gerbasi

Faith, Science, Mathematics, and Margarito’s Art of Busting Clichés

By Thomas Gerbasi (April 25, 2005)
Photo © German Villasenor

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A simple rule of thumb – never pick against the guy with the rosary around his neck. That’s a higher power you don’t want to mess with, yet you’ve got to wonder - how religious can someone be when they try to remove your head from your shoulders or push your liver from the right side of your body to the left seconds after making the sign of the cross? Maybe its faith, or maybe it’s just ‘bless me father, for I’m about to sin.’

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Whatever the rationale, picking the rosary bearer is a good rule to stick with; or better yet, don’t get seduced by punching power and athletic prowess when the fighter standing across the ring was already a professional for five years when your guy first picked up a pair of gloves.

Case in point - Antonio Margarito is far from spectacular in the ring – he’s the type commonly referred to as ‘workmanlike’ – you know the type; he grinds, moves forward, throws a lot of punches and will only make a highlight reel if he’s removing someone’s ear from their head with his fists – as he did earlier this year against Sebastian Lujan. And while being workmanlike isn’t a bad thing, it’s not the sexiest thing in the world either, at least not compared to the lightning fists of a Floyd Mayweather Jr., the freakish athletic ability of a Roy Jones Jr., or the concussive power of a prime Mike Tyson.

Going into last Saturday night’s fight, Margarito’s opponent, Kermit Cintron, had all the potential appeal of the aforementioned fighters. He was a Puerto Rican knockout artist with a great story, a humble demeanor, and the broad shoulders that could carry an entire division. On paper, this was a pick-em fight. In reality, it was anything but.

Not that we knew that going in. Going in, Margarito was the rugged veteran (there’s another one of those oft used adjectives to describe a guy who punches a lot, gets punched a lot, and usually goes home with more than his share of new scar tissue), and Cintron was the young gun. I have been of the opinion lately that in any sport talent can overtake experience if one athlete has substantial enough talent to impose his will on his more experienced foe. I’ve played basketball for a number of years, long enough to know more about the game than some young kid coming up. But despite my knowledge and experience, even though I know the finer points of how to hit a jumpshot, set a pick, and pass, a kid who is faster, stronger, and more athletic than me (not a particularly Herculean task), will probably beat me over a game to 21. It’s simply science.

So scientifically, Margarito was supposedly the inferior fighter in purely scientific terms. Despite only being just two years older than Cintron, he had been fighting professionally since just before his 16th birthday, had been battered, cut, and in his share of wars, and was not known for his defensive wizardry. Cintron, an outstanding all-around athlete, had no wear and tear on him, and was supposed to be the harder puncher and stronger fighter.

Yet Margarito not only brought faith with him into battle, he brought mathematics. And in Professor Margarito’s master class, he taught five rounds of calculus to a student who thought he was stepping into a Math appreciation class. Cintron will appreciate those lessons in the future though, because Margarito taught him the key to victory in the fight game – subtraction.

After a fairly tame first round, Margarito slowly took away what made Cintron 24-0 with 22 KOs. First he took away Cintron’s power, with a solid beard that was virtually unmoved by the Puerto Rican’s heavy hands. Next he took away his vision by opening a cut over his opponent’s right eye. Then he took away his strength by outmuscling him on the inside; and finally, Margarito took away Cintron’s confidence with a series of knockdowns that finally put the 25-year-old away in the fifth round.

So already having lost four key tools from his attack, Cintron was left with just his heart, the last thing to go on most fighters. And to his credit, Cintron kept getting up, kept trying to hold on, and kept swinging wildly in the hopes that one of the punches that had stretched 22 previous opponents would do the trick again. It wasn’t going to be, and it just wasn’t his night. That happens in this game, and it’s unfortunate, because when you lose, you don’t have 161 games to redeem yourself, like in baseball. There are no seven game series in boxing. It’s sudden death every night, and when you’ve been blessed with the exposure that Cintron has received in recent years, you crash even harder. Strange how you won’t hear much about how Hercules Kyvelos lost his unbeaten record to Margarito in January of 2004, but Cintron’s loss will be discussed for months by those who will crown him with the unholy trinity of “overs” – overrated, overmatched, and overwhelmed. Sure, Margarito overwhelmed him once he got rolling, but there was no shortage of pundits who either thought Cintron would win, or at the very least be in an ultracompetitive fight. Was it too much, too soon? Maybe, but if Team Cintron opted out of the match, there would have been even more critics, saying Cintron was an overcoddled pretender. At some point, you have to step up on the big stage and either sink or swim. Some make it, most don’t. Cintron may take this loss and use it as motivation to become a better fighter; or he may just fade away into obscurity. You never know what a major loss like this can do to a fighter. One thing’s for sure though – Cintron got his shot, and he gave it a shot – that’s more than most people in any walk of life can say, and you can’t take that away from him.

As for Margarito, he’ll continue to be painted as the “rugged”, “workmanlike” veteran, a “9 to 5er” who “punches the clock” with his “take no prisoners” style. That’s okay, because Margarito has never gotten caught up in having the flashiest skills, the hardest punch, or the gaudiest nickname. He’s focused on winning. It’s a lesson most fighters can use a refresher course in.