I'm sure the fall was legit. But, I think he quit. I don't think he even tried to get up. Perhaps his reputation does not give him the benefit of the doubt. He's been quite the whiner in the past. As soon as he fell out of the ring, I knew he would not continue fighting.
I watched and taped the fight. Personally, I don't know what the hell Kermit was thinking. Once the fighter got entangled and Williams fell to the floor, Kermit wasn't so out of control that he couldn't stop or reach for the ropes. Williams didn't SHOVE Kermit. It was one of the worst acting jobs ever. They need a rematch though, perferebly not in California.
When was the last time someone fell out of the ring without getting hit, tripped or pushed out by their opponent in boxing or Pride? That should pretty much answer the question. Cintron was on the verge of getting a beatdown and bailed. I had Cintron at +475 and could care less about the loss by the premature stoppage as he was going to lose anyway. This was about as flagrant as Hoya's "liver slap" by Hopkins when Hoya knew he was about to get beatdown for four rounds by the fury of a prime Hopkins. You can't punch the canvas(Hoya) if you are paralyzed by a liver shot.
In real time when I first saw it, it did look to me like he could've stopped himself but instead decided to dive through the ring ropes for whatever ****ed up reason he had in that screwy head of hs. Although during the replay it looked like he might've been tripped up by P.Willy's legs... and then afterward he said he wanted to go on with the fight, but now the docs says that Cintron himself said he couldn't continue, twice. So now I'm not sure what the **** to believe in this situation. :huh
About 80% think Kermit played it. Teddy Atlas agrees with this possibilityy. Hear it on today's boxing podcast("Heavy Hitting Boxing") at ESPN.com. Wish I knew how to post the sound file. Maybe somebody can post, or link it.
Maybe he felt that the damage the fall had done (he said afterwards it had knocked the wind out of him) would have affected his performance for the worse had he got back in the ring immediately, putting PW at an advantage. So he milked it...he had no idea the doctors would bring out the stretcher so soon. I agree, he was landing the harder shots and i think we could have seen Williams get knocked out.