Quintana is scary good

In the end, the “most feared man in boxing” was scary only because of his facial wounds.

Two swollen eyes, cuts near both.

That was the handiwork that Puerto Rican southpaw Carlos Quintana delivered to Paul Williams on Saturday. Quintana broke down Williams’ height and reach advantages and continually landed big punches -- mostly stiff lefts -- to hand Williams his first defeat and claim the World Boxing Organization’s welterweight championship by unanimous decision.

Judges Tony Crebs and Michael Pernick awarded Quintana a 116-112 edge, and Jose Cobian scored it 115-113 for the challenger in front of 2,500 at Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula.

Quintana (25-1) landed far more punches, 203-157, and sealed his victory with a 73-48 advantage in that category during the last four rounds.

“His reach didn’t affect me, I was well prepared and I just did what I had to to get in there,” Quintana said.

The loss is a stunning career blow for Williams (33-1), who earned $900,000 Saturday to Quintana’s $159,890, and had greater plans.

Before the bout, Williams’ promoter, Dan Goossen, had accused fellow welterweight world champion Miguel Cotto of shying away from the 6-foot-1 southpaw. Goossen took to calling Williams boxing’s “most feared” fighter.

Yet, as he did during the fight, Quintana merely laid low and blasted away when the opportunity presented itself.

While Williams was an active puncher, he couldn’t land the impressive blows that Quintana produced from the first round on. Williams constantly appeared to be setting up for big shots. Quintana just threw and landed them.

“He underestimated me,” Quintana said. “He looked past me. This was a do-or-die thing for me, and I proved it.”

Said Williams: “It just wasn’t my night. I didn’t show up. I couldn’t get into my rhythm. It wasn’t that Quintana had a better plan, I just couldn’t get into my rhythm.”

Promoters for both fighters said they would work to arrange a rematch.

Williams was fighting for the first time since his biggest victory, a July decision over Antonio Margarito to gain the WBO belt. His layoff was extended when a date with International Boxing Federation welterweight champ Kermit Cintron was canceled because of Cintron’s injured hand.

In December 2006, the 5-9 1/2 Quintana, 31, retired after the fifth round in a World Boxing Assn. title fight against the unbeaten Cotto, and he admitted he considered retirement.

But Saturday, he routinely answered Williams’ forward movements with scoring lefts, swelling Williams’ right eye by the fifth round, cutting his puffed-up left eye in the eighth and watching the swelling at his right eye bleed in the 12th.

When Williams appeared to be regaining momentum after the eighth, Quintana responded in the 10th with a left that struck the champion flush on the face, and another, more devastating left to the jaw seconds later.

Earlier, Riverside heavyweight Cris Arreola dominated Cliff Couser, winning by first-round technical knockout 1:22 into the fight.

Arreola (23-0, 21 KOs) hadn’t fought since September, backing out of a November fight in St. Lucia after the shooting death of his best friend in Riverside. Ranked the No. 7 heavyweight in the world by the World Boxing Council, Arreola immediately hurt Couser is (26-15-2) with body shots and finished him off with a left hook and straight right.

lance.pugmire@latimes.com