There are a lot of profound and incredibly compelling subjects in boxing today, although some may argue that the boxing wire has become a bit tedious lately. Still, there are some great storylines brewing and potentially explosive fights to be made involving interesting fighters with captivating backstories and entertaining styles.
However, it seems like Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (31-0, 22 KOs) is determined to keep himself out of the news for anything positive or for achievements worthy of our attention. Instead, the former WBO middleweight champion has left a sour taste in the mouths of fans that couldn’t possibly comprehend why he would ditch his title in favor of not defending it against number one contender (at the time) Matt Korobov.
Of course, Quillin is represented by Al Haymon and anyone that has followed boxing over the last decade knows that Haymon undoubtedly advised Quillin against the mandatory in favor of something greater down the road. It’s worth mentioning that Quillin turned down a career high payday of $1.4M, which was his entitled 75% of Roc Nation Sports’ winning purse bid of $1.9M for the rights to the fight.
Haymon was unwilling to work with Roc Nation Sports. Some will point the finger at Haymon’s grudge with rap mogul Jay-Z as the reason the fight couldn’t be made, but the truth is Haymon is just plain difficult to work with and is unwilling to play second fiddle when his fighter is involved.
Whatever Haymon promised Quillin — Haymon also reportedly gave Quillin money not to fight — was enough for him to completely change his tune and contradict every word he gave to reporters the day after the news of Roc Nation Sports winning the purse bid broke.
Quillin, at first, was optimistic and grateful to Roc Nation Sports. He told Nestor Gibbs of Thaboxingvoice.com that he was excited for the prospects and on an unrelated note Quillin stated that Daniel Jacobs, who was being mentioned as a possible opponent for Quillin, was unworthy of a fight with him and didn’t think the fight was attractive to fans – casually dismissing Jacobs’ paper title in the concluding moments of the interview.
Then, a few weeks later, Quillin changed his opinion and claimed that Roc Nation Sports was an unproven commodity in boxing and that the money wasn’t worth it – dropping his title in the process.
As for what was potentially next for Quillin, he told Gibbs that Jacobs was an interesting consideration and that his interim title was just as valid as any. It was crazy. Quillin was speaking like he’d been brainwashed, probably because he had been.
Since then, Quillin has remained contradictable in interviews and continually gives vague descriptions of his reasoning as it relates to his decision making over the course of the last few months.
We don’t know what’s next for Quillin, and sadly, he doesn’t seem to know either. But his statements in an interview with iFL TV published on their YouTube channel gives some insight into his mindset, which is to say that his mindset has little insight.
“Besides Golovkin [the middleweight division is] weak,” Quillin told iFL TV when asked to evaluate his division. “Cotto to me is too small to be a middleweight. All these people are targeting people like Cotto because he’s the money guy. It’s not about the title as much as they say.”
Quillin, who has no chance to land a fight with lineal champion Miguel Cotto, is claiming that Cotto is not “middleweight enough” to consider a legitimate threat. He may be right, but these are sour grapes and Quillin would jump at the chance to fight Cotto.
Quillin went on to say, “[Cotto’s] team strategically got him the right fight because of his name, they got the right fight and became a champion. That’s good for his legacy and his story. But he goes in there with someone like a Kid Chocolate or Gennady Golovkin and I don’t see him surviving that long.”
This is laughable. Quillin is criticizing Cotto and claiming that he fought Martinez at the right time, perhaps insinuating that he wouldn’t be the lineal champ right now if he wasn’t a big enough name to lure Martinez into a fight at a time when retirement should’ve been considered by Martinez’s team.
However, Quillin is forgetting that Cotto made his name and built his reputation by fighting those tough fights throughout his career and he is merely enjoying the fruits of his past labors. Quillin, I’m sure, would’ve loved to have fought Martinez, specifically a one-legged Martinez, but he hasn’t earned that fight and shouldn’t be pointing fingers at the warriors of today, especially since he has not shown that kind of willingness to take on all comers.
Instead of doing everything possible to get in the ring with the toughest opponents in his division, Quillin seems more interested in playing matchmaker.
“Andy Lee and Cotto is more of a likely fight that Cotto would want to target to be a unified middleweight champion, and if they’re smart then that’s what they’ll make. Even Jermaine Taylor versus Andy Lee is a good unification bout for each other because it’s not really that much of a high risk fight.”
Quillin is expecting fighters to do what he is doing, avoiding risk with the hopes of securing titles and money with little consideration of what fans want. Quillin has claimed he is ready to fight the best, but when the subject of Gennady “GGG” Golovkin comes up he is quick to contradict himself.
“No, [Golovkin] is not [avoided]. His name is there, but the money and the business behind him is not equaling up to each other. The name don’t really bring that much to the table besides a high risk fight with a low reward, it’s just saying to a bunch of fans ‘I beat Gennady Golovkin’ and that’s all it really does. I don’t think like that, the fans can only do so much for you. I believe if you’re a true fan of somebody, you support them for the reasons that you do.”
The fans can only do so much for you, is that really your opinion, Peter?
Even if you feel that way, you shouldn’t say it. It might be a good thing that Quillin doesn’t put much stock in the opinion of fans because he appears to be the kind of fighter that fans won’t get behind. Quillin believes that a true fan loves a fighter just because and that they should remain a fan of someone no matter what they do, negative or positive. Quillin is forgetting that if you’re a fighter then you’re expected to fight, and when you don’t then expect consequences, the kind that involve backlash from fans.
Quillin needs to look at it from the fans’ perspective and understand how he sounds right now. In one breath he’s saying that Golovkin isn’t avoided, and then in the same breath he’s claiming that Golovkin isn’t worth fighting. Let me break this down for Quillin: if all the fans are asking for a Golovkin fight then he is worth it, and if all the top middleweights are refusing to take the fight with Golovkin then he’s being avoided. It is that simple.
By the way, if Golovkin isn’t worth fighting, then who is? Remember, Quillin himself says the division is weak.
In fact, this is Quillin’s reasoning: Cotto, who brings the most money to the table, is not “middleweight enough” and is too small; while Golovkin, who is too much middleweight and is considered the biggest test in the division, brings nothing to the table.
Again, Cotto= enough money, but too small and Golovkin= strong opponent, not enough money. So, as Quillin searches for a unicorn in the middleweight division — someone who is both a cash cow and dangerous — the rest of boxing moves on without him as he continues to leave himself out of any realistic equations.
His last piece of reasoning in the interview is the real topper.
“Like Muhammad Ali, can you remember every fighter that he fought? You only remember the good fights that he fought. And that goes for Sugar Ray Leonard and all those other guys, you only remember those career defining fights on [their] records and I have one of them fighting another undefeated guy with Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, which is one of my claims to fame. At that time, it was worth it [to fight N’Dam] because the money was behind the fight.”
This is the most laughable aspect of all. Quillin is essentially claiming that Cotto and Golovkin aren’t worthy, but N’Dam is? For Quillin to claim that N’Dam on his resume can be compared to Marvin Hagler or Thomas Hearns on Leonard’s is absurd and only further proves how delusional Quillin is right now.
For the record, I don’t blame Quillin. In fact, I’m a fan of his and I’ve always considered him a talented fighter. He’s got a great story, he provides a reasonable amount of entertainment in the ring, and he’s equipped with a high level skillset.
The problem with Quillin is his loyalty and belief in Haymon. I’m not saying that Haymon is incompetent and I know that Haymon will make Quillin more money than anyone else can, but Haymon has completely hampered Quillin’s reputation. Quillin needs to take responsibility for at least some of his own decision making, and then he can attempt to shed the inconsistencies in his own reasoning.
