posted April 10, 2008 at 19:01 in Other Articles

BetUS sportsbook is the place to be for sports betting on Saturday night, fight night. Kermit Cintron will hope for a better result the second time around on Saturday when he defends his IBF welterweight title against Antonio Margarito at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The bout is scheduled for 12 rounds.

BetUS Boxing Betting Odds

IBF Welterweight (147-pound) title

ANTONIO MARGARITO -300

KERMIT CINTRON +220

UNDER 9.5 ROUNDS -175

OVER 9.5 ROUNDS +135

For boxing betting purposes, let's size up the contestants:

CINTRON (29-1, 27 KO's), the +220 underdog in the BetUS boxing betting odds, is a legitimate puncher. But a lot of the fighters he knocked out coming up the ranks were prospects who never panned out, like Said Ouali, who subsequently lost to 44-year-old Manning Galloway, or guys who were sliding just a bit, like Elio Ortiz or Teddy Reid. Early in his career, when Cintron faced a cagey pro in Leon Pierson, he was befuddled all the way and was lucky to come out with a hotly-disputed six-round decision.

Clearly Cintron was not ready to face outstanding all-around pros when he encountered Antonio Margarito in April of 2005. As a result, he lost the first four rounds before being stopped in the fifth.

Cintron came back from that disappointment to capture the IBF's 147-pound crown over Mark Suarez via sixth-round TKO in October of 2006. And he has defended the title twice - knocking out Walter Matthysse in devastating fashion in two rounds and scoring a tenth-round TKO over Jesse Feliciano.

MARGARITO (35-5, 25 KO's), the -300 favorite at BetUS, came up the hard way, in comparison, fighting tough fights against tough fighters early on. He lost three of his first 12 fights, then went on a nice winning streak. He won the WBO title in March 2002 with a tenth-round stoppage of Antonio Diaz and made seven successful defenses. He also tried to move up to 154 pounds, but lost a tenth-round technical decision to Daniel Santos when he was cut on the eyebrow by an accidental headbutt and had the fight stopped. A count found him behind on two of the three scorecards at the time of the stoppage.

During this time, Margarito was getting some image-building mileage from his "challenges" to Floyd Mayweather, which really didn't make any financial sense for Mayweather to engage in. He ultimately blew his title when he lost a 12-round decision to the tall, angular Paul Williams last July. Margarito struggled the whole way with Williams' height and reach. He's had one fight since - first-round TKO over Golden Johnson in November.

When evaluating this fight, you have to think about whether anything has happened in the interim to change the dynamics of the first matchup between Cintron and Margarito. The only thing that has changed, from my point of view, is that Cintron now is the guy who holds the belt. Otherwise, I don't see any reason to shift gears. I would not consider the loss to Williams to have any relevance, since Williams, who is difficult for anyone to fight, is such a different fighter than Cintron, who will come straight-ahead. And Cintron has faced relatively light opposition since winning the title; he still hasn't had to test his skills against someone with the experience and resourcefulness of Maragrito.

I still don't see Cintron having a "Plan B" if he's not able to walk out there and knock Margarito out. I'm expecting that Margarito, who could hardly be considered a "shot" fighter at age 30, can take him to school again.

So we will lay the -300 with Margarito in the BetUS boxing betting odds.

JAY'S PLAY: MARGARITO (-300) ***

(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

Betting on boxing has never been so easy and you can get your bets in now in the BetUS sportsbook. Go to Other Sports: Boxing. Find tons of props on the fight and the fighters in the Future / props section as well!

(Charles Jay of www.eBookies.com is a former manager, matchmaker and color commentator in professional boxing. He currently pulls no punches in the BetUS Locker Room)