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Carlos Quintana vs Paul Williams

posted by Kathleen Holland on June 4, 2008, in Features

By Ted Luzzi

Paul "the Punisher" Williams will get his chance to redeem his reputation and win back his part of the welterweight title on June 7.

Paul was derailed by Carlos Quintana a 9-1 underdog losing his title in his last fight. Paul the punisher was turned into Paul the punished as Quintana gave him his first defeat ever. It was no fluke. Quintana scored repeatedly with both fists. As Quintana’s confidence grew he starting beating Williams to the punch and beating him thoroughly. Quintana boxed around the ring got good angles on Williams, where his could hit and not be hit, then let his hands fly and gave Williams a beating.

A weary, bloody, discouraged Williams had no argument with the decision at fights end. It was a stunning upset. Quintana was considered good but Williams was considered exceptional. What Happened? Williams is a guy with obvious ability and he beat a damn good fighter in Antonio Margarito to become the champion. Will Williams be spurred on to greatness by the defeat such as Joe Louis was vs. Schemeling or will he recede and fade into an also ran fighting on undercards where fans will ask "was not he considered a champion once? Strategy, conditioning and a refocus on his career will be needed. He has the right team.

I once interviewed his trainer George Peterson and found him to be a serious minded ex-cop full of pride and confidence in Williams. A man with both feet on the ground and unlikely to not realize Williams’s whole future in boxing is on the line here. Let’s assume Williams is highly conditioned and focused. How will he turn it all around against the new champion Quintana who outboxed him so totally last time? It seemed that an overconfident Williams had no plan B when his plan A did not work out last time.

To win Williams needs to cut the ring in half sliding over from ring center in two big steps either way to give Quintana no room to maneuver and get him pinned to the ropes. Williams can then bang Quintana to the body and take away his mobility. On the outside Williams would be wise to double jab then hook off the jab giving Quintana two or three punches to avoid rather than just one like last time. Paul then would vastly increase his connects and his chances of landing something damaging. Quintana has clever footwork and lighting fast hands. Williams has to tighten his defense and and be willing to go through Quintana’s best and blast away himself as he is unlikely to outbox Quintana.

Paul Williams is going to have to win the punches exchanges to win the fight. Paul Williams looked mighty confused last time. Boxing basics could win it for him this time. However we will not know if Williams has his confidence to stick with the basics or will come apart with his confidence gone until he steps into that brightly lighted ring on the seventh. I think Williams will do much better than last time but it’s a lot to ask a fighter to learn to do all the above mentioned things in a short time with no tune up fights .My heart goes with Williams and he is the 2-1 favorite to win, but my head says Quintana.

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