By Dan Ambrose: Former WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin (31-0, 22 KOs) pretty much ruled out a fight against WBA Super World middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin at least for now.
Quillin says that Golovkin is a high risk fight without much of a reward at this time. Quillin says if he were to fight him he’d be doing it for the fans, and he feels like it’s not worth it to fight him just so that he can tell the fans he beat him.
It’s interesting that Quillin doesn’t think of the Golovkin fight in terms of what it would do for his career. Quillin doesn’t seem to understand that if he beat Golovkin, it would help make a bigger star and that in turn would lead to him making more money.
If he could beat Golovkin, which is extremely doubtful, it would make Quillin one of the most popular fighters in the middleweight division. Quillin is popular now, but he’s not seen on the same level as Golovkin and Miguel Cotto. Further, Quillin’s stock really dropped after he chose to vacate his WBO middleweight title rather than defend it against Matt Korobov.
Boxing fans didn’t understand that move, especially with the money that Quillin would have made for that fight. A lot of fans think Quillin was flat out scared of Korobov, and that’s why they think he chose to vacate his WBO belt rather than face him.
“Gennady Golovkin is kind of like the bogeyman,” Quillin said to IFL TV. “His name is there, but the money and business behind him is not equaling up to each other. Gennady Golovkin is looking for a payday too. The name doesn’t really bring much to the table besides a high risk fight with a low reward. Just saying to a bunch of fans ‘I beat Gennady Golovkin.” That’s all it really does. I’m not thinking like that. I’m not thinking of beating this guy because of the fans. The fans only do so much for you,” Quillin said.
I believe that Quillin is wrong. I think a Golovkin fight would bring a lot of money for both of them. If it didn’t then it would mean that Quillin isn’t a big enough star to make it a huge fight, because Golovkin vs. Cotto or Julio Cesar Chavez Jr would be pay-per-view bouts.
If Golovkin vs. Quillin isn’t a pay-per-view fight then that suggests that Quillin doesn’t have the fan base that Cotto or Chavez Jr does. That means that Golovkin probably would be wasting his time fighting Quillin. After all, Quillin no longer has a title and it’s unclear whether he ever will get one. Quillin will be turning 32 in June, and he’s definitely not getting any younger.
Quillin recently looked poor against Gabriel Rosado, a fighter that Golovkin easily beat. If Quillin does pick up another world title, he’ll likely be steered towards WBA champion Daniel Jacobs or IBF champion Jermain Taylor. In other words, Quillin will be carefully matched against guys that are beatable and not much of a threat rather than being put in with the two middleweight champions who are seen as the best in the division in Golovkin and Quillin.
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