By Shawn Krest (photo Jim Everett/FightWireImages)

There are professions that seem easy, because we don’t understand everything that goes into it.  Orchestra conductor, fashion model, abstract artist, and Treasury Secretary, to name a few.

Then there are jobs that seem easy because they just kind of do themselves.  Elevator operator and season ticket salesman for the Boston Red Sox would qualify.  Sometimes, so would a boxing matchmaker. 

Usually, matchmakers have their work cut out for them. They need to put together evenly matched, entertaining fights, at times trying to match styles and skill levels with only scant information to go on. 

But then there are times when things just fall into place.  Take two guys, about the same size, who are both at a career crossroads—two guys who both need a win desperately in order to stay relevant in the sport they’ve dedicated their lives to.  Call it an eliminator, and head for a long lunch with the doorman and subway driver. 

Jermain Taylor and Jeff Lacy meet in an eliminator main event Saturday night.  The bout matches two former Olympians who developed slowly but eventually became champions, only to be knocked from their pedestal and knocked out as well.  One will begin his road back.  The other will likely fight next on ESPN2 or Fox Sports Net.

As is usually the case with an undercard, the stakes aren’t quite as high for the twelve rounder that will precede Lacy-Taylor, but Kermit Cintron and Lovemore N’dou will face off in another true eliminator. 

Officially, the eliminator tag refers to the IBF title shot promised the winner, but both men need a victory to remain a factor in the welterweight division. 

Kermit Cintron can’t get past Antonio Margarito, getting knocked out twice at the hands of Margarito in the last three years for his only two career losses.  The bouts lasted a total of eleven rounds, and in his most recent outing, Margarito stopped Cintron on a body shot.

Lovemore N’dou can’t seem to solve Paul Malignaggi.  The slick but light hitting Magic Man dominated N’dou a year and a half ago, falling two points shy of a shutout.  Their rematch was closer, but Malignaggi again prevailed, this time by split decision.

Both men are coming in off rematch defeats.  Both have questions swirling about their futures. 

For Cintron, it’s his chin.  Margarito exposed him in the first bout, a five-round beat down in the main event of ESPN’s first boxing Pay Per View.  Like many ultra-aggressive fighters, there are now questions about whether he can handle an opponent equally able to apply offensive pressure. 

For N’dou, it’s his size.  He’ll be giving up three inches in his welterweight debut.  N’dou started his career as a super featherweight and has gradually packed on an additional twenty pounds.  However two losses in three fights doesn’t seem like the best way to leave a division for a heavier class. 

Making the fight even more compelling, each man’s weakness seems to be a strong point for the other. 

Kermit Cintron has been a welterweight his entire career.  The lightest he’s ever been for a fight—144 and a half pounds, less than a month before the September 11 attacks—would make him the heaviest opponent N’dou has ever faced. 

Cintron has knocked out 27 legitimate welterweights.  After two bouts with the elusive Malignaggi, N’dou might be looking to a heavier class because of the promise of slower fighters, but he’s never faced a foe with the knockout power Cintron possesses. 

Of course, if anyone has the chin to withstand Cintron’s power, N’dou does.  He has never been knocked out in his career, and it’s difficult to recall a time when he was seriously hurt.  This despite facing a litany of champion-level fighters.  Sharmba Mitchell couldn’t stop him.  He went the distance with Miguel Cotto, becoming the only man to do so in a fourteen fight stretch that saw Cotto go from prospect to title-holder.  N’dou also snapped a fifteen-fight knockout string for Junior Witter.

The list of top-flight opponents who couldn’t stop N’dou highlights another question mark for both fighters:  Quality of opposition.  Of course, in true eliminator style, both men arrive at that question mark from opposite directions.

N’dou has never backed down from an opponent, taking on all comers.  For his welterweight debut, N’dou chose Cintron rather than a safer opponent.  His willingness to make a fight has contributed to his ten career losses, however. 

While it may be impressive that Mitchell, Cotto and Witter couldn’t hurt N’dou, it’s worth noting that N’dou lost all three fights.  His failure to get past top opponents has given N’dou the reputation of gatekeeper.  Despite 57 career fights in a fifteen and a half year career, N’dou only had one world title bout until 2007—the Mitchell loss—and he’s lost two of three world title bouts since ’07.

Meanwhile, when it comes to opposition, Cintron is the anti-N’dou.  In 31 career fights, Cintron only began fighting twelve-rounders eight bouts ago.  Other than a knockout of Teddy Reid, the only recognizable name on Cintron’s record is Margarito. 

Both fighters enter Saturday’s bout looking to get back on the winning track.  Both men want to distance themselves from an opponent that has presented a career stumbling block. 

One man hopes that a new division will finally allow him to break through at the sport’s highest level.  The other hopes to realize the potential that enthralled observers until he met Antonio Margarito. 

Two men desperately need a win. Only one will get what he’s looking for.  As for the other?  Well, that’s why they call it an eliminator. 

Sometimes the job is so easy.