It's not easy being green. Just ask Kermit Cintron, who suffered his first pro loss in devestating fashion as four knockdowns forced him to quit in the fifth round against a gunslinging Antonio Margarito at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas Saturday night.

Cintron, 24-1 (22), who wept in his corner after the loss, showed that he is still a young developing talent who, although he possesses awesome power, as of yet does not have the intestinal fortitiude to dig in deep against tougher opponents and overcome adversity. In short, Margarito was the man, Cintron the boy.

Margarito, 31-4 (22), opened a cut over Cintron's eye in the third round, and from that point on Cintron appeared an unwilling participant in a fight that was hyped to be a Gatti-Ward type all-out war, not the one-sided shellacking that it turned out to be. Give Margarito credit though, he won in impressive fashion, and after the fight he called out Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley, and Zab Judah.

Despite the win, I'm not yet sold on Margarito as being a world-beater. He's sloppy, his defence his porous, and his record isn't indicative of someone who can beat the welterweight elite. I don't care how much ESPN hypes Antonio Margarito, he is not at the same level as De La Hoya, Mosley, or Judah. But then again, I had predicted Cintron winning by KO 5, not Margarito.

On the undercard of Margarito-Cintron, "Sugar" Shane Mosley won a unanimous decision over David Estrada, pounding his body and taking it to him in their 10-round fight. Estrada, who was touted as a slick boxer who could make Mosley look bad, lost almost every round and posed no significant threat to the ex-champ. The question of whether Mosley can excel again at welterweight has not been decisively answered yet, (although a prime "Sugar" Shane might have taken out Estrada) and won't be until he takes on, say, Antonio Margarito, or even Zab Judah. Mosley says he isn't pursuing a third fight with De La Hoya, but somewhere down the line Mosley-De La Hoya III may be inevitable if the "Golden Boy" wants it.