Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin’s disappointing weekend culminated in a split draw in his bout with WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee on PBC on NBC’s second incarnation. Despite failing to make weight, losing his shot at the title he previously held, and not being able to close the show on the champion despite two knockdowns in the first quarter of the fight; Quillin was relaxed and seemingly content in his post-fight press conference.
Taking questions from the media, Quillin seemed resigned to the judges’ scores and offered little in terms of an explanation for not making the weight, and not being able to finish Lee when he had him noticeably hurt.
When asked by The Boxing Voice’s Nestor Gibbs how he felt about his performance, Quillin simply replied, “What can I say?…I’m not the type of fighter to come up here and tell you I won, that’s not my personality.”
His next comment didn’t seem to indicate that Kid Chocolate felt he’d done enough to win the fight, and reiterated that he has little to no control over the outcome and the judges’ decision.
“Man, this is how the story is written. I don’t have too much say into that…I trained for this fight, prepared like a champion, but unfortunately we have to walk home with a draw.”
Regarding the weigh-in mishap, Quillin had an interesting take on if his next fight will be at 160.
“Who knows? This was a challenge to my career. It’s something I’ve never had happen and something I’m going to have to learn to deal with.”
One can only speculate on if Quillin meant he’d have to deal with the disappointment of missing an opportunity at a title shot or having to deal with the prospect of moving up in weight.
From this writer’s point of view, it was a lack of killer instinct and activity that cost Kid Chocolate a victory. A victory that seemed all but destined after showing his power and putting Lee on the canvas in the first and third rounds. After he felt a taste of Lee’s power and went down for the first time in his career in the 7th, Quillin seemed even more reluctant to engage.
While neither fighter threw very many punches and seemed content to play the counter puncher’s role, it was obvious from the beginning that Quillin had Lee in big trouble and seemingly could have taken advantage to score the knockout. Perhaps, as he mentioned numerous times in the lead up to the fight, Peter was all too cautious to run into the vaunted left hook of Lee.
“I’m not a machine that can throw 1,500 punches.”
“Machine” or not; both fighters threw less than 300 punches according to CompuBox, which is a low number for any fight by today’s standards.
For most hardcore boxing fans, the display this weekend from Quillin was most likely another in a long line of disappointments from the former champ. This fight was supposed to be the comeback fight for Quillin after he unceremoniously vacated his title and turned down the biggest purse of his career last year in a much-criticized move.
This fight was his chance to redeem himself and show fans his commitment to being a champion and a star in this sport. Long seen as one of the few at 160lbs that could truly challenge Gennady Golovkin for supremacy at middleweight, Quillin proved this weekend that he’s a long way from doing anything of the sort if ever. But he’s perhaps even further from winning back the fans.