By Sergio Martinez

 

I don’t care what you read out there, Mark “Poison” Suarez was not a buried treasure in the welterweight division and his five-round technical knockout loss to Kermit Cintron was expected. The only rationale behind his “007” identity is simple: Prior to this past Saturday night, Suarez had fought a mere seven times in three years and all seven encounters were insignificant.

There was no “Kennedy conspiracy” at work here. “Poison’s” secret identity was attributed to the fact that he did not warrant any attention as a viable contender in the first place. Now, because of another bastardized world title fight, Kermit “Killer” Cintron is a “champion.”

 

You can already hear boxing’s “Choir Boys” (you know who you are) clamoring in the background. “WOW! They said that Mark Suarez was great so this is really a great win for Cintron. He’s back! Do you think he can beat Mayweather? Maybe the whole Margarito fight was a fluke.”

 

The only thing I have to say to those already posing these questions is to remember what the great Bob Marley once wrote: “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery as none but ourselves can free our mind.” Take a step back and analyze what was really on the line in this past Saturday night’s fight.

 

The only reason that the IBF welterweight trinket claimed by Cintron is not around the Argentinean Carlos Baldomir’s waist where it belongs, is because he refused to pay the sanctioning fees, so Zab Judah remained a “champion” by default.

 

That same tainted belt ended up being on the line in April of this year when the Brooklyn native faced off against “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather. The strap changed hands that night and Floyd was also ridiculously anointed a welterweight “champion.” It soon found its way to the vacant heap and opened the door for the “title” fight between Cintron and Suarez.

 

Now, being complete unbiased, can anyone really say that the IBF welterweight trinket has any legitimacy?

 

Don’t get me wrong, Cintron was given an opportunity and took advantage of the situation to be called a champion. It is something that every single boxer dreams of when he/she starts a fistic career, so Kermit gets a pass as this is not his fault. Still, calling him a “legitimate welterweight champion” is ludicrous. At best Kermit has, again, achieved contender status, but who can he fight to validate his position?

 

A rematch with Margarito seems unlikely since the first fight was a mismatch so it is very difficult to justify a return bout. Besides, I really don’t care what bravado you will hear from Cintron and his people regarding this possibility as they will find a way to assure that a second Margarito fight never happens.

 

The only other possibility left, considering that politics and business decisions are the current rulers of the sport, is that Cintron’s brain trust have attempted to position him for a fight against the winner of the Baldomir vs. Mayweather fight. They too will take the “who has Margarito fought” (conveniently forgetting about their encounter) road and attempt to cash their boy out before he is, again, knocked out. And when reminded of Margarito’s beat down of Cintron, you will simply hear; “It was too early”… “I was not ready”… “He was rushed.”

 

This whole situation of illegitimate championships is becoming commonplace as the business side of boxing attempts to gain as much financial advantage as possible. The true draws of boxing are a dying breed. With the likes of Oscar de la Hoya, Felix Trinidad, Shane Mosley, and Fernando Vargas ending their careers, big money fights with combatants who are genuinely looking to challenge themselves by facing the best opposition available is quickly becoming a concept of yesteryear. Every top fighter in the sport today seems to have contracted the “Roy Jones, Jr.” virus and is willing to risk very little in the name of “business decisions.”

 

Can one imagine what boxing would have been like if Roberto Duran fighting “Sugar” Ray Leonard; or Tommy “Hitman” Hearns facing “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler; or Felix Trinidad fighting Fernando Vargas; or Oscar de la Hoya facing Shane Mosley; were fights seen as too risky and all of the aforementioned made a “business decision” to avoid those challenges? The boxing world would have been deprived of some of the greatest contests of all time.

 

Look, at the end of the day, I know boxing is a business and fighters risk their lives every single time they step into the ring. Although I do agree that they do not owe fans anything, they are indebted to the sport of boxing and its history.

It is each new boxing generation’s responsibility to maintain a certain level of quality, and engage in fights that transcend their era so that the sport may continue to enjoy prosperity no matter what the year reads.