Instead of facing International Boxing Federation welterweight champion Kermit Cintron next month, Paul Williams (33-0, 24 KOs), The WBO welterweight champ, will have to settle for Carlos Quintana (24-1, 19 KOs), whom he will be battling next month on February 9th at the Pechanga Resort & Casino, in Temecula, California. if this bout had occurred in, say, late 2006, before Quintana was destroyed by Miguel Cotto in five rounds, it would be an intriguing bout. However, Quintana, now 31, has done next to nothing since upsetting welterweight prospect Joel Julio in June 2006, a fight which put Quintana’s name on the boxing map.
As quick as his name was put on the map, Quintana had it pretty much removed by his loss to Cotto, and made worse by the fact that Quintana chose to fight only once in 2007, against a C-level opponent named Christopher Henry. Not the kind of thing a fighter of Quintana’s age, 31, should be doing to try and rebuild his name in the boxing world. However, it does show quite a bit of courage on Quintana’s part for him to agree to fight WBO champion Williams, since he’s widely considered to be the best welterweight in the division by many people. Quintana seems to think that he has an excellent chance at beating Williams. After all, he’s a southpaw like Williams and has superb defensive and overall boxing skills.
Quintana is a different, however, than the only fighter that ever gave Williams much of a bout – Antonio Margarito – in that Quintana isn’t much of a pressure fighter, relying instead on boxing from the outside, using his jab, and occasionally coming inside for a 3-4 punch combination. His power is good, but not as impressive as his 19 KOs would seem to indicate. Most of Quintana’s knockout wins have come against mediocre competition. In fact, Quintana has only faced two quality fighters during his entire 11-year career, having faced Joel Julio and Miguel Cotto.
In deciding to challenge Williams for his title, Quintana, ranked #4 in the World Boxing Association welterweight division, is likely to have big problems. Quintana, though a decent puncher, doesn’t throw enough punches to match Williams shot for shot. Instead, Quintana will likely try what he always, throwing a a few quick shots and then trying to get distance. However, Williams applies constant pressure similar to the way Cotto does, meaning he’ll likely cut off the ring on Quintana, forcing him to fight more often than he is accustomed to.
While Quintana was successful at out-boxing the power-punching Joel Julio, Williams is a much different fighter than Julio. At 6’2, Williams has both the height and the reach to advantage over the 5’9″ Quintana, which will make it tough on him to try jab Williams from the outside as he did against the shorter Julio.
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