The main reason why I’m trying to give Kermit Cintron the benefit of the doubt is because it wasn’t like he was getting beat down or anything in his boxing match against Paul Williams.

I actually had him up two rounds to one before he went “Superman” and flew out of the ring.

The visual evidence, especially the slow motion replay you can watch below, seems to suggest that Cintron “leaped” out of the ring.

If I had to guess what really happened, I would say that Cintron could have stopped his fall but was being a bit of a “dramatic” when he jumped through the ropes, not thinking of all the bad things that could happen by doing that.  He ends up banging his head on the monitor and I think that legitimately shook him up for a minute.  Realizing that he could be losing his opportunity to beat Williams, he tried to get back in the ring, but by then the doctors – seeing he had hit his head – were having none of it; if something bad happened to Cintron in the ring, they would have been held responsible.

A quirky rule in California allowed the fight to go to the scorecards after only three rounds (they need to abolish that rule) and Williams was awarded a split decision.

Unfortunately for Cintron, unless Williams has no other options he won’t be fighting him again, so his leap might have cost him an opportunity for his biggest victory and chance for a bigger payday in the future.