By Paul Strauss – It wasn’t exactly a scintillating night at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida. First, Celestino Cabellero proved Daud Cino Yordan was far too inexperienced to be in the ring with him. He dominated the fight from beginning to end. Cabellero was too big, too fast, too elusive and just plain too good for Daud. Caballero could see everything Daud was trying to do, which was far from being enough to win the fight. One judge generously gave Daud two rounds, a second judge gave him one round, and the third judge accurately said Cabellero pitched a shutout.
Caballero proved that he doesn’t just exercise the physical advantages of height and reach over his opponents. He proved that he is one heck of an all around fighter. He threw over twelve hundred punches, most of which landed, and mixed them up nicely so Daud didn’t know what to cover or when. Just as soon as Daud thought he was blocking the multiple straight jabs, Cabellero would rip a hard right hand to the kidney area, or step over to his right and whip a right hand behind Daud’s guard.
Daud would occasionally explode out of his defensive posture with a left hook, but almost without exception, Celistino would block it or avoid it altogether. If he did get hit at all, he would roll with it, or snap away and take all of the power and sting out of it.. By the late rounds, he was so relaxed and confident in the ring that he was talking to Daud, and even singing! He proved he definitely belongs in the featherweight class, but it might not be so easy against the likes of Yoriokis Gamboa or JuanMa. Time will tell.
In the main event, Andre Berto and Carlos Quintana made for an ugly matchup. Quintana’s gyrations had him bending and rolling out of postion, and it always appears he’s so out of position that won’t be able to do anything. Then he lands a punch, and fans, the referee and his opponent wonder where the hell did that came from! He landed such a punch in the first round, which struck Berto on the side of the head, slightly behind the ear. Down went Berto, but Referee Tommy Kimmons called it a slip and waived off any thought of a knockdown. It seemed similar to location of the Pacman’s first knockdown punch against Miguel Cotto. There was no warning with that one, and no objection from Cotto that he had been fouled.
Throughout the next several rounds, Berto continued to complain to Kimmons, and it got to the point of being irritating. Meanwhile, he was mauling Quintana and doing his best to rough him up and land a big punch. Quintana kept his cool as best he could, and continued to frustrate Berto a bit, but it was obvious he didn’t like the pressure and was letting it affect him.
Quintana probably took the first two rounds, and as previously mentioned deserved a 10-8 first round. In the second round, he caught Berto with a long straight left and Berto was staggered. That punch alone earned him the second round. From that point on, one expected Carlos to use the same punch to time Andre and catch him jumping in, but it didn’t happen. To make matters worse, Referee Kimmons penalized Carlos one point for hitting behind the head, which occurred when Andre got turned around after a clinch. Kimmons had no choice.
The fight progressively got uglier. Andre would close in without a jab or feints, and then explode into a mulitple punch combination. Quintana would bend and roll, trying to avoid the onslaught, and wing some of his own shots. Some of those punches landed along side Andre’s head, but Andre was also taking advantage of Carlos’ back when Carlos would awkwardly bend or roll out of position. Kimmons did not warn Andre about it because Carlos was turning away.
In the fourth round, Berto landed his first really good right hand, and it staggered Quintana, but he seemed to recover fairly well, but then later in the round, he got nailed with another right hand. It probably wouldn’t have been out of line to score the round 10-8 for Berto. That seemed to be the beginning of the end. The fight stayed ugly, and after the fifth round, it appeared Berto was grimacing on his stool between rounds over pain in his left bicep. His corner men were frantically trying to rub away any problem. The sixth round was closer, but only because neither fighter did that much. In the seventh round, Berto caught Quintana behind the head, but there was no warning. Regardless, by the eighth round, Berto was catching him to the front of the head enough to leave no doubt as to what was happening. Quintana was now taking a brutual beating. He was no longer able to avoid Berto’s right hands, and one in particular caught him flush. The replay showed that Quintana did not move out of the way at all. There was no roll or snap away, and the hard straight right hand crashed full force against his face, leaving him defenseless. Kimmons stepped in and stopped the fight at 2:16 of the eighth round.
Even with Berto’s strong performance, it’s still doubtful that he is ready for some of the other elite top welterweights. Against Quintana, he got away with his jumping in tactics because he was faster and stronger than Carlos. However, that would not be true against Mosley, Mayweather or the Pacman. Undoubtedly, he would be running into some big counters and might be stopped. He is a very good fighter though, and an even better young man. He is well spoken and a student of the game, and unquestionably will continue to improve Saturday night he was definitely too much for Carlos Quintana, and as a result keeps his WBC welter title.