On October 26th, in Atlantic City, just over one year since Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin won the WBO title against Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, he will be defending his title for the second time against Gabriel Rosado. Quillin 29-0 with 21 KOs made no secret to the fact that he feels that he is one of the best fighters, not only in the Middleweight Division but in Boxing. Currently in the Middleweight Division there are four champions holding major titles. Martinez holds the WBC, Golovkin holds WBA, Barker holds the IBF, and Quillin holds the WBO. When asked where he thinks he ranks with the other fighters Quillin understands that you can’t be the man, until you defeat the man, he stated, “I would place myself second behind Sergio Martinez” he continued, “I’ve been calling Sergio Martinez out from day one when everybody didn’t think I was a serious fighter. I would place myself number two only because I was willing to fight all the guys that Gennady Golovkin is fighting, Matthew Macklin. I was willing to fight Gennady Golovkin, but a lot of things and a lot of business hold back a lot of these things, but I just know that I’m going to fight hard whatever place I am to be number one, be the number one middleweight in the United States and be number one middleweight in the world”.
Unfortunately because of the Cold War between the Network and Promoters, unified titles and having one undisputed Champion may be a dream for now. For Quillin, unifying the titles would not only be the next step towards “super-stardom” but it would be a dream come true, he stated, “Of course that’s one of my dreams, to be a unified champion and I reconstructed my goals after I won the title to say that that’s the next mission that there’d be a unified champion.”
Being world Champion is hard enough when you are a highly decorated Amateur fighter. With just 15 amateur fights and defying odds Quillin knows that boxing outside the ring you need a game plan just as much as inside the ring. “Well, I can just say that from the beginning my dream was always become a world champion. Once that happened I knew I would fight. Okay. I accomplished what I really wanted. Now where do I go from here? And that’s when I started to notice that when you become a world champion it becomes a special thing because you’ve got little kids telling you that they’re inspired by you and not inspired to be a champion but like lawyers and doctors and stuff like that. Then I knew that was something special so now I know I have a responsibility to know what I do is just go out there and I work even harder to make sure that every time I go out and defend this belt I’m defending it with all that pride, that honor, and all the kids that are watching.”
Although Rosado will be entering the ring in October with six losses, many in the media feel that this fight with him will be Quillin’s biggest test, “I’m not saying he’s a loser in spirit. I’m just saying based on facts and on paper that he knows how to lose, meaning he has six losses at the end of the day. I haven’t had a taste of defeat so my hunger and his hunger are coming from different places. His hunger will always fight from not wanting to lose again. My hunger is never to want to taste defeat. So, when people were thinking I was saying like he’s not tough enough and he knows how to lose, I mean it in a way that only people that will have a thinking mind will be able to put that into perspective. I’m saying that with six loses on his record, if he ever got a moment in a fight with me where he felt that feeling before he can choose two ways. He can choose to fight on or he can choose to lose.”
In the past, during interviews given by both fighters they were candid about their thoughts of each other. A little over a year ago these two fighters were clamoring at the opportunity to one day meet in the ring. Now that the fight is signed both fighters have taken a respectable approach until recently when Rosado made some comments that Quillin took offense to, Quillin stated, “He made comments about knocking me out. Those types of things I don’t have to take lightly. I’m going in there with the same mentality. When somebody was born with two fists and they became a fighter he wasn’t the last fighter that was born and breed, you know what I’m saying. I’m going to take it for what it is. A lot of the Internet stuff the fans get us involved and all that type of stuff is kind of emotional for a fighter, to have some guy saying what he’s going to do to a person. So, like I said I don’t have a problem with him. I know him. I will shake hands with him before the fight, and then after the fight, but while the fight is going on I’m going to just try to lay hands on him.”
