Sharkies Machine
By Frank Gonzalez Jr.
February 9th, 2008
“Carlos Quintana Conquers Tall Paul Williams”
Congratulations to the new WBO Welterweight Champion, Carlos “El Indio” Quintana
(25-1, 19 KO’s), who challenged Paul “The Punisher” Williams (33-1, 24 KO’s) and
came up big against the biggest, most feared fighter at Welterweight. Who really
thought that the man who quit on his stool after five bruising rounds with
Miguel Cotto would be the man to beat the man nobody wanted to fight. Williams’
phone will be ringing off the hook now.
Maybe Paul Williams just had a bad day or is not accustomed to fighting other
skillful Southpaws but whatever it was, the story of this fight was Quintana’s
left hand and his ability to move in and out of range to tag Williams with clean
punches all night. I want to give a shout out to the Judges for their honesty in
scoring this fight. This is good for boxing.
Sporting a Mohawk, Paul Williams entered the ring weighing 164 pounds after
officially weighing in at 146. Sporting a serious case of five o’clock shadow,
Carlos Quintana came in at 158 and he had a plan. He studied the Williams
Margarito fight and thought that if Margarito could hit Williams, he would hit
him more. And he did.
After Paul Williams beat “the man no one wanted to fight,” (Antonio Margarito)
last July, Williams developed a mystique of his own and in today’s boxing, image
is everything. Even the mighty Floyd Mayweather Jr. dismissed the question of
fighting Williams, saying he has nothing left to prove and he’s going to be a
promoter now (except for an extra multi-million dollar purse to fight De La Hoya
again). The blatant ‘business trumps competition’ mentality of today’s fighters
is truly inspirational. Where yesterday I thought Williams vs. Mayweather Jr.
had to happen, now, I’m not so sure Williams really is as good as I thought he
was. He might even get a call from Floyd after his lack luster performance
Saturday night.
Aside from his convincing win over Joel Julio in June of 2008, Quintana was,
until last night, best remembered for his embarrassing loss to fellow Puerto
Rican, WBA champion Miguel Cotto in December of that same year. After being
dominated for five rounds Quintana quit on his stool. He didn’t fight for
another 13 months when he returned to the ring for a tune up fight with 23-18
Christopher Henry. He won by TKO in four before stepping way back up to face the
likes of “The Punisher.” Not known for his stamina, Quintana looked ready for
tall Paul when the first bell rang to start the fight. Quintana had everything
to gain fighting the “man nobody wants to fight,” redemption and a World Title
that will make him lots of money the next time he fights.
The Fight
Round One
An action packed round with Quintana showing no fear of Williams. Quintana was
able to land clean shots, mostly left hands. Williams landed some jabs and was
imposing as he stood so much taller than Quintana and referee Jack Reis. There
were a lot of exchanges and Quintana was getting the better shots off
consistently. Williams’s lengthy arms were too long to be effective at the
distance Quintana was affording him. Quintana landed a clean uppercut to the
face of Williams. 10-9 Quintana.
Round Two
Quintana started out landing a clean right and was generally landing the better
punches. Williams was having trouble landing anything more than little arm
punches with little power. Quintana landed a flush left that stunned Williams,
who was unable to hurt Quintana because Quintana was always quick to slip under
and away from the much taller Williams. Quintana simply out boxed Williams. 10-9
Quintana.
Round Three
Williams revved up the aggression and pressured Quintana. They both scored in
spots during exchanges. Williams looked awkward at times as Quintana showed
superior defense and always managed to land a right, overhand left combo as they
turned. As good as Quintana was doing, he did look a bit tired, especially so
early in the fight. 10-9 Quintana.
Round Four
Quintana scored immediately to start the fourth round with another left to the
face. As they boxed, Quintana landed his right hook a few times. Williams picked
it up and landed some decent shots late in the round as he pressed the action as
Quintana was constantly moving. Quintana did land the better shots and it was a
close round but Quintana landed more often and boxed more effectively. 10-9
Quintana.
Round Five
Quintana landed a good body shot early. Williams was in excellent condition and
showed a great chin considering how often he was being hit. Williams kept the
pressure on but could only manage to land grazing punches. Before the round
ended, Quintana landed another right, overhand left combo. Quintana’s movement
kept Williams out of sync. 10-9 Quintana.
Round Six
Williams finally landed a big left hook that stunned Quintana, who was looking
tired. Quintana landed that same combo of right, overhand left to the face and
was successful. Williams was always too close or too far to put anything on his
punches, which were most times, ineffective. Williams was busy and being
aggressive but Quintana’s movement, slick offense and timing continued to be the
difference as round six came to a close. 10-9 Quintana. A shutout so far on my
card.
(Williams corner instructed him to put non stop pressure on Quintana and to use
his jab more to set things up.)
Round 7
Williams pressured Quintana and was landing soft punches. Quintana landed a nice
right uppercut. Williams’ nose bled but he kept moving forward and eventually
landed a clean right to the face of Quintana, who was starting to hold more
often since it was a good way to score inside and get some oxygen in the
process. Williams was mostly throwing arm punches, working hard and even managed
to catch Quintana with some decent shots in the last moments of the round. It
was Williams’ best round of the fight and I gave it to him. 10-9 Williams.
Round Eight
Williams was more intense in round eight, which saw him land more arm punches
and grazing shots that weren’t hurting Quintana, but they were scoring. Quintana
was fighting lazy, moving away and coming back with a bit less steam than
earlier. He did land a good shot to the body early on. Williams is tough, he
took all Quintana could deliver and never looked shaken. He was cut over his
left eye but that wasn’t the problem so much as he simply couldn’t get into any
kind of sustainable groove. Williams was working harder and out hustled Quintana
in the eighth. Quintana landed a clean left then a clean left hook but it wasn’t
enough to win the round. 10-9 Williams.
(Between rounds, Quintana’s face looked unmarked but he looked exhausted.
Williams’ eye was being attended, bleeding from a gash on the right side, his
left cheek swollen but he looked fresh and ready to go.)
Round Nine
Quintana looked sluggish but landed a straight left then a left hook. Williams
chased him with pressure and had a few good moments. Quintana started tasting
leather as Williams mounted a respectable attack until Quintana found his face
with that same right, overhand left combination that was working all night.
Williams was definitely in better shape at this juncture of the fight but he
still couldn’t find an answer to Quintana’s effective counter punching. Quintana
landed a few more lefts as Williams kept coming forward. 10-9 Quintana.
Round Ten
Williams was landing more often than before but still without much pop, mostly
because of the in and out range presented by Quintana, who continued to do more
of the same; landing counter punches that were scoring points. Williams did use
his jab effectively for a while but Quintana found a way away from it. Williams
kept pressing but Quintana’s defense and counter punch tactic was the difference
again. Williams was now cut over both eyes. 10-9 Quintana.
Round 11
More of the same, with Williams pressing and Quintana moving and looking for
counter opportunities, which came often. Quintana’s punches were clean,
Williams’ were not. Quintana was landing at a very high percentage and clinching
when Williams threatened to change things. Williams’ defensive skills are
nothing to brag about. Again Quintana landed several left hands in the waning
moments of the eleventh round. 10-9 Quintana.
(Quintana’s corner told him he had to win the final round, they probably figured
they wouldn’t get a fair shake with the Judges against the big star on the rise,
Paul Williams.)
Round Twelve
Quintana suddenly looked energetic, bouncing around and taking a few shots in
the process. Williams was busier and obviously aware that he needed a great
round to lend credibility to any potential gifts by the Judges. The truth was,
Williams needed a knockout to win. Though he won the final round with a gallant
effort for the full three minutes, it wasn’t enough to win the fight. 10-9
Williams.
Quintana stood up on the corner ropes after the final bell sounded and the crowd
erupted with cheers of approval. Strangely, HBO’s Harold Lederman had it 115-113
for Williams. Maybe Harold was having as bad a night as Williams was. The
Official Judges scored it 115-113 and 116-112 twice all in favor of Carlos
Quintana.
Amazing! They got it right.
* *
During the post fight interview, Quintana credited Paul Williams as a good
fighter and said he might have knocked him out but was having problems with his
breathing (he was winded!). When asked what he wanted to do next, he said he was
going to celebrate for now and think about his future afterwards.
Williams was asked what happened, and if he felt overconfident coming into this
fight and he said, “I’m never overconfident and I wouldn’t take anything away
from Quintana. He showed up tonight.” He was clearly disappointed with his
performance. When asked what Quintana did to throw him off his rhythm he said,
“Quintana didn’t do anything to throw me off my rhythm. Quintana was able to
execute his game plan and I didn’t execute mine because I didn’t go to the body
enough and—it was just one of those nights where I didn’t perform like I
normally perform.”
This loss should be beneficial to Williams, who will study the tapes and
hopefully correct some of the flaws he exposed Saturday night. Maybe he would do
well to move up to the 154 pound division where he’d be stronger.
On the under card, top welterweight prospect Andre Berto (21-0, 18 KO’s) made
easy work of Germany’s Michel Trabant (43-3-1, 17 KO’s) who rarely threw punches
and quit on his stool after the sixth round in what looked more like bad match
making than Berto being all that dominant a fighter. Berto has some skills, he’s
energetic, throws lots of combinations and can excite the crowd but his people
have to come up with better competition than guys like Trabant, who never looked
like he was there to win the fight. For today’s fighters that fight less than
three times a year, this was a terrible waste of time for Andre Berto…and for
the fans watching.
Andre Berto vs. Paul Williams would be an interesting match up and a great way
for Williams to shake off the sour taste from the Quintana loss. For Berto, he
might want to practice fighting southpaw, who knows, maybe Williams isn’t as
good as we thought he was? Other than Margarito, who has Williams beaten worthy
of mention? An old Sharmba Mitchell, who’s what, five feet, four inches tall?
Maybe his TKO win over Walter Matthysse, who went on to lose two of his next
three fights?
Congratulations to Carlos Quintana, the new WBO Welterweight champion, who
proved that speculation don’t mean jack. Nobody expected him to win and yet he
found the way to pull it off. The bottom line is that nobody can beat anybody
until they actually get in the ring and do it.
When Carlos Quintana finishes all the celebrating, he’s going command some big
paydays after what he accomplished Saturday night. He deserves it.
* * *
Comments can be emailed to dshark87@hotmail.com
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