Written by Scott Swerbinsky

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Last night on HBO, we got the chance to see two of the so called fastest rising and undefeated stars in the sport. While one young gun was putting on a show, the other's goose egg in the loss column had to go. Our resident fight doctor recaps last nights card, and takes a look at the current state of the welterweight division after last night's fights. Last night on HBO, we got the chance to see two of the so called fastest rising and undefeated stars in the sport. While one young gun was putting on a show, the other's goose egg in the loss column had to go.

Paul Williams who was ranked #8 on my year end pound for pound rankings suffered his first career defeat. Carlos Quintana made Williams fight a different style then what we were used to seeing from him. In the process, Quintana took his welterweight title and made a lot of people question their thoughts about this kid.

Williams normally is very aggressive and throws a lot of punches. His land percentage is always high. Last night, we saw the exact opposite. At times he looked hesitant to throw big shots, mainly because he was getting drilled with punches from Quintana. Paul's defense was nowhere to be found. He did keep coming forward but never tightened up his defense and he continued to pay for it over twelve rounds.

Quintana easily won the decision and became the new WBO Welterweight champion. At times it looked as if Quintana was out of gas but he did what he needed to do to get the victory. He landed the cleaner harder shots. Not once did he seem hurt by Williams.

With the win, Quintana improved to 25-1 with that only loss to Miguel Cotto. The welterweight division is stacked with talent, so whoever they put in front of Carlos Quintana will be another tough test.

One of the possibilities for Quintana is Andre Berto. We got to see one of the best looking prospects in the sport of boxing on the undercard last night. 

Berto came in with a very impressive record of 20-0. He easily improved that with a dominant win over Michel Trabant. In what was supposed to be a step up in class for Berto, he looked awesome. From the opening bell, Berto landed everything possible and did a lot of damage to Trabant who coming in was never stopped.

After six rounds of punishment, Trabant had enough and did not answer the bell for the seventh round. To his credit, he could have quit a lot earlier. Berto simply beat him up, bad. Big uppercuts and solid body shots for all six rounds were the main weapons of choice.

It is hard to say just how good Berto is. Trabant's style was a guy he looked to counterpunch and not come forward. He also didn't look to throw many punches or mix it up with Andre. When I had a chance to speak with Berto earlier this week he said he wanted to fight four to five times this year. I think after a few more good fights against a little stiffer opposition, this kid will be ready for the big names in the division.

It was a night where we saw a huge upset to go along with a serious beating. Paul Williams took a big fall down the rankings ladder while Andre Berto made huge strides in his young career.

2008 is the year for boxing to explode again and just might be the year of Andre Berto. Remember this kid's name because he just might have what it takes to be an all time great.