Giant killer Carlos Quintana was back to his old
tricks on Saturday night; this time capturing the WBO
welterweight title from formerly unbeaten phenom Paul
Williams. Just two years ago, Quintana shocked many
when he upset then 27-0 Joel Julio; Quintana then lost some
of that momentum when he was stopped by Miguel Cotto last
year. But, on Saturday night, he played the giant
killer once again, defeating Paul Williams by a
unanimous decision, handing Williams his first defeat
in 34 fights. The fight was the main event on the HBO
"Boxing After Dark" card from the Pechanga Resort &
Casino in Temecula, California.
Quintana took the fight to Williams from the get
go, letting everyone know that this wouldn't be a
walkover for Williams like many had expected. Williams
was defending the WBO title for the first time since
taking it from Antonio Margarito. Quintana was able to
get inside and land some wide lunging shots on
Williams with regularity. He closed the round strong
with a hard right uppercut, which left many shocked
as to how the fight had started. Quintana was able to
find a home for his overhand left, and
brought it to the forefront in round 2. Again, a great
round for Quintana as he was able to move well and
beat Williams to the punch. Throughout the round,
Quintana was able to get inside on Williams and batter
him with left hands.
The third round was a better round for Williams,
but still very close. Williams was starting to time
Quintana better with his counters. But, Quintana's
awkwardness was still giving Williams problems.
Quintana was still able to plug away with hard left
hands to the head. The fourth round was also close
with Williams starting to jab better, but Quintana was
consistently throwing a hard right hand over the top
of Williams' overhand lefts, and landing them
beautifully. Quintana made the round his when he
closed the round with a hard right hook to the cheek.
The fifth round was a good round for Williams as
Quintana slowed down just a bit. Williams was not
dominating during this round, but he was able to keep
Quintana away with his jab and probably took the
round. The sixth round was close, Williams started
strong and tried to turn the fight his way. He landed
some solid combinations upstairs, but Quintana again
came back with a stinging 3 punch combo to the head
midway in. Halfway through, one thing was certain,
when Quintana was active he was very effective.
The 7th round was a good round for Williams,
probably his best. Though Quintana still did some
damage, Williams was able to land some effective short
right hands, and was also landing more power shots.
Williams was also beginning to cut Quintana off better
and land better shots. Flashing ahead to round nine,
Quintana came on strong again. Quintana was able to
get inside and land some wide lefts and rights
upstairs that Williams had no answer for. Quintana
also opened up two cuts over Williams' eyes,
the right eye being the worst. The 10th round was also
a good one for Quintana. He opened the round with a
staggering left cross to the cheek. Quintana
consistently beat Williams to the punch, countering
Williams's lazy jabs and rights beautifully.
Quintana continued his late round dominance in
round eleven. He persistently landed the bigger shots,
and was getting the better of exchanges. Williams
tried to bounce back in the final round. Paul landed a
hard chopping left-right combo to Quintana's head to start.
With blood gushing down Williams' right cheek he fought
through a rough round, probably taking it. As the
fight went to the scorecards, there was no funny
business. Quintana won by scores of
115-113, 116-112, and 116-112 to capture the WBO
welterweight crown, and shock the Boxing world. BRC
scored the fight 115-113 for Quintana. Williams was
glum in defeat, but making no excuses, simply saying
that he just didn't have it tonight. Quintana improves to
25-1 with the win, while Williams falls to 33-1.
For
those of you who didn't truly think Quintana won,
here's a look at the CompuBox stats, which illustrate
Quintana's victory:
|
WILLIAMS |
QUINTANA |
| Total Punches |
799 |
596 |
| Punches Connected |
157 |
203 |
| Percentage Connects |
20% |
34% |
| Jabs Thrown |
323 |
227 |
| Jabs Connected |
53 |
60 |
| Percentage |
16% |
26% |
| Power Punches Thrown |
476 |
369 |
| Power Punches Connects |
104 |
143 |
| Percentage |
22% |
39% |
There would be no such upset in the co-feature as
Andre Berto delivered a beating to Michael Trabant
over six rounds to stay undefeated. Berto scored a 6th
round TKO when Trabant's corner stopped the fight at
the end of the round. Trabant, fighting for the
first time in the United States may not want to come
back any time soon. Berto started fairly quiet in the
first 2 rounds, mainly concentrating on his jab. Late
in the second round, Berto started to pound away at
the body with hooks, while Trabant mainly played
defense.
The 3rd round found Berto trying to goad Trabant
into exchanging, but Trabant wanted no part of it,
only throwing the occasional combination. Berto landed
a devastating 4-punch combination upstairs, and closed
the round with two deadly right uppercuts. By the
fifth round, Trabant was looking more like a punching
bag and his face started to show effects. Berto was
going downstairs with hooks, then coming
up with hard right crosses and uppercuts to the head.
Berto opened the sixth round with a snapping short
right which staggered Trabant. With referee Raul Caiz Jr. watching closely, Berto closed the round with a
powerful 6-punch head-body combination.
There was no surprise when Trabant's corner
stopped the fight at the end of round six as he had
taken quite a beating. A valiant effort by Trabant
but he was taking way too much and giving far too
little. With the win, Berto improves to 21-0 with
18 KOs, while Trabant of Berlin falls to 43-3-1. A good
night for promoter Lou DiBella as his prized prospect
Berto won again, and Quintana shocked Williams to win
a world title.
There were three off-TV bouts from the Pechanga
Resort & Casino. Rising Heavyweight Chris Arreola made
very short work of longtime veteran Cliff Couser with
a 82 second beatdown. Arreola rocked Couser with a
left-right combo, and then ensued with a barrage of
shots that dropped Couser. Referee Jerry
Cantu then called a halt to the bout as Couser took
a knee. Another quick victory for the rising
heavyweight from Riverside, California. Arreola is
currently the #7 rated WBC heavyweight and is now 23-0
with 21 KOs. There has been talks of his next fight
being with either Michael Moorer or David Tua. Couser
drops to 26-15-2 with the loss.
In a 6 round junior welterweight bout, Omri
Lowther won a hard fought unanimous decision victory
over the game Braulio Lopez. Lowther won by scores of
59-55 on every card. Lowther from Valdosta, Georgia
improves to 10-1 with the win while Lopez of
Tualatin, Oregon falls to 6-7-1 with the loss.
In a scheduled 4 round junior middleweight bout,
Raymond Biggs Jr. dropped Bryan Mullis twice en route
to a 3rd round stoppage. Biggs won by TKO at 1:32 of
the third round. Biggs Jr. of Jersey City, New Jersey improves to
7-0 6 KOs, while Mullis of Charlotte, North Carolina
falls to 4-3-1. This concluded an exciting, and
surprising night of Boxing from the Pechanga Resort &
Casino in Temecula, California.
