Carlos Quintana-El Indio

[BoztheMadman]

One of the most underrated fighters of this century, Carlos Quintana is known for his big upset of Paul Williams, whom he beat for the WBO welter title in 2008. Unfortunately, he was stopped by Williams in the first round in the rematch. He was also the first guy to take Joel Julio's zero. Quintana was a technically capable and tough guy who could hit pretty well and take good punishment (usually) and he also fought Miguel Cotto for the vacant WBA title in 2006, unsuccessfully. At just over 5'9 (177 cm), he was a tall welterweight who later ventured into the 154 division and had 3 fights there before retiring. He was only bested by the very best fighters of his era. 

 

Born on November 6 1976 in Moca, Puerto Rico, he has a large family of 6 sisters and 1 brother. He became interested in boxing at 10 years of age and started boxing as amateur at 15. He was a member of Puerto Rican 1996 Olympic team, where his countryman Daniel Santos won a bronze at welterweight. His amateur record is 62-8 with 48 ko. His first pro fight happened 14 June 1997 and he won it by a TKO 1. It was at 140 pounds. He soon started fighting at 147 however and won 21 fights before winning the WBO Latino welter title by stopping Raul Eduardo Bejarano by a TKO 10 on 24 February 2006. On 24 June that year, he faced the 27-0 puncher from Colombia, Joel Julio, at Caesars Palace, in what was a part of HBO's Boxing After Dark. Quintana's superior boxing skills prevailed and after 12 rounds, he was proclaimed the winner by a clear UD. This gave him a crack at the vacant WBA title against his countryman Miguel Cotto, a former WBO-junior welter champion. 

That fight happened on 2 December at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City and early on, Quintana did well with his boxing skills against Cotto who was more of a swarmer back then. He won a couple rounds before Cotto started asserting himself in the 3rd round and breaking him down with his body punches. Quintana went down twice in the 5th, first from a left hook to the body. He also sustained welts under both eyes and a puff above the right eye. After the 5th round, he refused to continue and thus was the loser for the first time as a pro. He rebounded by stopping Christopher Henry by TKO 4 in September next year, before getting a fight against the WBO-champion Paul "Punisher" Wiliams, who had taken the title from Antonio Margarito previously and was making his first defense. The fight was on 9 February 2008 at Pechanga Resort and Casino and Quintana was the 6 to 1 underdog against the 33-0 and much taller (6'2 at least) Williams. Still, he managed to outpunch and outbox The Punisher, to the degree that Williams was cut over both eyes and needed nine and three stitches. In the end, El Indio Quintana won by the scores of 115-113 and 116-112 twice to finally become a world champion.

Williams was never known as a one-punch guy or a guy who ends his fights quickly, but this is what happened in their rematch on 7 June, this time at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. Hungry for revenge, Williams opened aggressively from the bell and somewhere midway thru the round, he hurt Quintana with a three-punch combo which forced him to hold. Williams then landed a right hand flush on his jaw and then a left hook which put Quintana down. As he rose, he was met with a left hook which put him into the ropes and down. That was the end of the fight, at 2:15 of the first round. He came back and won 2 fights, but then on 4 April 2010 he was stopped by Andre Berto in a fight for the WBC title; Quintana lost a point for hitting behind the head in the third but still did rather well in the first 5 or 6 rounds, before he was eventually overpowered by the younger, faster and hard-hitting Berto and stopped by TKO in the 8th. 

His career seemed to be over, but Quintana wasn't ready to call it a day yet, so he entered the 154-division. In February 2011, he stopped the overmatched Yori Estrella by TKO 9 at home in Puerto Rico, but was then gone for 15 months, for some reason, before returning to the ring on 5 May 2012 against Deandre Latimore, in a fight for the vacant WBO NABO title. El Indio dominated the fight and stopped the former Cory Spinks-challenger by TKO 6. He had big plans after that, but they were disrupted by the young Keith "One Time" Thurman. He fought Thurman on 24 November same year and after being down in the first round, was stopped by TKO 4 after being hit by a big body shot. He was now 36 and realized it was time to pack it in and he retired with a record of 29(23)-4-0. 

Carlos Quintana was a boxer who, despite being technically sound and slick, never backed away from a good old-fashioned brawl and that is why he was popular with the boxing crowds. He was however never a true star, despite winning a world title once, not in USA anyway. Losing most of his biggest fights was to blame for that, I guess. However, only in the Williams-loss did he really get destroyed and didn't look good losing. And also, in his very last fight against Thurman. Otherwise, he gave all his conquerors a good fight. He was an underdog who more than once surprised everyone by winning fights he wasn't favored to win. 

[LondonRingRules]

--- Boz, always thought the Thurman fight was a planned dive, ie he couldn't had tried less without falling down before a punch was thrown. 

Yeah, tricky southpaw, but yeah, his time near the top short and found a soft place to land, so no problem...