So, it seems like everyone is jumping on steward and cintron about letting feliciano control the fight on friday, but here is a quote from a new interview with manny explaining what happened. it was obvious the earlier rounds that their strategy was to stay outside, and they were succesful.. Montoya then stated: "I noticed he came back to the corner and said something to you. And after that he stopped throwing the right hand as much." Steward responded with: "Yeah. After the first round, Kermit came back and told me his hand was hurt. I thought, 'oh ****.' At that point I had a tough decision to make and I made a quick one to change our strategy, slow down and stay inside and let this kid tire himself out. In the later rounds we'd go to our legs and turn him and confuse him and go for the stoppage. I knew we might get behind on the cards and that the crowd might turn against us. But with a crazy kid like that coming forward all wired up and ready to take our best shots, I thought it was the best thing to do. Kermit might have burned himself out tryi * ng to move all night."
uhm, he actually told him to stay inside... that's why people jumped on steward after the fight. everyone was saying "why would he tell him to stay inside on this guy?". Around round 8 he started telling him to get outside, you are right, which is exactly what he said the strategy was. let the guy tire himself out for 7 rounds, maybe get behind on the cards, then get outside and KO him.
I have a feeling Emmanuel had some money on the over 6.5 rounds line. Knowing Cintron's history of breaking down, why would he let Feliciano take control of the fight and risk Kermit falling apart? Cintron could have won rounds fighting on the outside without barely even using his right hand anyways. In the end, I guess Manny's strategy worked, but it didn't seem like the best strategy for a mentally weak fighter who has the biggest match of his life coming up next.
I don't remember him telling him to go inside but I can't say for sure he didn't tell him to, I didn't give particular attention to this but I remember manny telling him to go outside. It is possible that it was around round 8 like you said though
Stewart was telling Kermit after every round to stay outside and eventually it tuned into we are losing the fight...so I don;t but it...it was a pissed poor performance by Kermit, he regress...badly...it was embarrasing
dude, i have the fight on tape. he only starts to tell him to get outside in the later rounds. in the early, after cintron whispers something to him (obviously that he couldnt really throw his right), he tells him to keep feliciano inside, cuz he cant keep up this pace, and let him tire himself out. i watched the fight a couple of times, so im sure of this. and beyond that, i dont really know if there was much regression. if cintron had full use of his right hand he would have had him out of there quickly. Look at the first round, he had the guy pretty much done there, but couldnt come out in the second and finish it. When have you ever seen a fully healthy cintron not finish something he started?
