PAUL WILLIAMS KO1 CARLOS QUINTANA

Boxing is full of surprises.

After the way that Carlos Quintana dominated Paul Williams in February it seemed likely that even if he didn’t win the rematch it would at least be a competitive fight and most likely a long one. So, what happens? Williams came out the way he should have done the first time, and two minutes, 15 seconds later he had reclaimed the welterweight title that, it now appears, he never should have lost in the first place.

This was the most stunning reversal of fortune in quite some time, and the end came suddenly. Quintana had been boxing nicely enough in the all-southpaw bout, and he even landed a solid left hand. Yet just when it looked as if we could all settle down for a cut-and-thrust 12 rounder in the opening bout of Showtime's double-header, Williams landed a left hand that made the talk about him being the new Thomas Hearns, lately silenced, look entirely appropriate once again.

Although Quintana picked himself up, he was out of the fight, his legs gone. It was just a matter of time before he got smashed to the canvas again, and when the inevitable happened, referee Ed Claudio knew there was no need to count.

Williams, on this night, fitted the “most avoided fighter” description that his promoter Dan Goossen had been using prior to last February’s loss to Quintana.

What a strange sport boxing is. Before Saturday night there was a suspicion that Williams might have been overrated, yet now he is an even hotter fighter than he was before last February’s upset defeat. The old saying about only being as good as your last fight has never looked truer.