I'm very happy about this win, mostly because I've thought for a while that Quintana has been pretty underrated and overlooked in the talent-packed welterweight division.  His dismantling of Joel Julio, for one thing, was masterful.  

His loss to Cotto says more about Cotto's talent than anything else.  And, in Quintana's defense, he and his corner have complained that the body punch that ended that fight was ilegal, since it landed on Quintana's back.  Personally, I thought it was a clean shot.

Nonetheless, the fact of the matter is that nobody wanted to fight Paul Williams.  Even Kermit Cintron forgot all about a unification fight, opting to sign a fight with Margarito instead of waiting for the outcome of tonight's fight (turns out that was a good decision by Kermit).  

Leading up to this fight, I had been reading stuff about Quintana in the Puerto Rican newspapers.  Quintana seemed to be looking forward to fighting the so-called "most feared man" in the sport.  It actually seemed as though he was excited about getting the shot to face Williams; he definitely thought he could win.  

And, you know what, it wasn't even that close.  Like Scott, I had it 116-112.  This wasn't as close as Margarito-Williams or Cotto-Mosley, or either Hopkins-Taylor fight.  I thought Quintana won rather clearly.  Sadly, I think Harold Lederman is getting old.  His scoring has been pretty off-the-mark lately, particularly tonight and on the Hatton-Mayweather fight.  And the HBO team, in general, seemed to be favoring their fighter (Williams) somewhat delusionally with their commentary.

In any case:  Yes, I think Quintana is a top-5 welterweight right now.  I would probably rate him at #4, after Mayweather, Cotto and Mosley.  And I honestly think he's got the goods to beat the rest of the top-10.

The question is: where does he go from here?  I'm sure there aren't many people lining up to fight Quintana after tonight.  A rematch with Cotto?  Okay: take a look at Quintana's face when Max Kellerman mentions that possibility.  Seriously: if you watch the replay of this fight, look at his face (and his trainer's face) when Kellerman says the words "Cotto" and "rematch."  That's all you need to know about the chances of that happening.  Most of the top welterweights have fights lined up for the Spring, regardless.  The thing is: if Quintana was hot after the Julio fight, now he's sizzling.  He shouldn't wait too long to take another fight.

So, who?  Berto?  Though I think Berto has a lot of potential, I see a Quintana-Berto fight playing out almost identical to Quintana-Julio.  

Now that Quintana's getting the recognition he deserves, I think the title of most underrated welterweight goes to Josh Clottey (who is Cintron's mandatory).  I guess that's a possibility.

In closing, I have to return to Miguel Cotto.  When Cotto demolished Quintana, people didn't really give it much thought.  He was supposed to win, and he did.  Similarly to when he beat Paulie Malignaggi and Ricardo Torres.  Cotto handed all three of those guys their first loss.  Fine.  Now, all three of those guys are reigning world champions.  What's more?  They each only have that one loss on their records.

I've read several pieces in different websites defending Mayweather's decision to fight a De La Hoya rematch.  Many who have said that in order for Cotto to 'earn' a shot at Mayweather (or to be able to 'demand' it) he has to beat Paul Williams first.  In a sense, that happened tonight.