By Olly Campbell: In almost exactly one months time on April 11th, live from the Barclay Centre in New York, freshly crowned WBO middleweight champion “Irish” Andy Lee (34-2, 24ko) will make the first defence of his title against home town fighter “Kid Chocolate”, Peter Quillin, (31-0, 22ko) who himself is hoping to regain the very same 160lb belt that he recently vacated.
This contest has attracted a certain degree of media attention, both good and bad, for highlighting some of the political issues that can go on behind the scenes in boxing with regards to the right matches being made at the right time.
Quillin is attempting to regain the title he vacated last year rather than face then mandatory challenger, dangerous Russian Matty Korobov. Reports widely circulated that Quillin had turned down a career best purse of $1.4 million dollars rather than fight Korobov, which led to fierce criticism of the American fighter, who was accused of ducking and picking his fights.
In terms of giving Quillin the benefit of the doubt, purse bids to host the fight were won by rapper Jay Z’s Roc Nation sports, newcomers to the “business” of boxing. Golden Boy fighter Quillin is managed by Al Haymon, the hugely influential yet controversial ex-music business manager and executive, who has developed something of a quiet stranglehold on the sport. There were talks of an existing feud between Haymon and Jay-Z from their music business dealings having an impact upon Quillin v Korobov contractually?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIRJFa-BCL4
I will leave you to make up your own mind as to what side of the fence you come down on in that regard.
It was of course Andy Lee who stepped in to face Korobov for the vacant belt in December last year, stopping his dangerous opponent in six rounds with a clinical finish of pure killer instinct. After looking to be in trouble for much of the contest, Lee smelt blood when a perfect shot staggered the Russian, and he didn’t need telling twice to wrap things up, pouncing on Korobov with a huge flurry of punches to finish things in style.
Once trained by the late Manny Steward at his world famous Kronk gym in Detroit, Lee struggled to adapt after the legendary trainers passing in 2012, yet seems to have found new life under the expert tutelage of former David Haye trainer Adam Booth.
Currently 34-2, Lee led up to his world title win with a highlight reel knockout of John Jackson, son of former world champion Julian, in a fight in which he too tasted the canvas. As is testament to the heart and fighting style of Lee, he found a way to come back and win in the face of adversity. Something he also evidenced in fine fashion against Korobov.
Lee has arguably faced the sterner career tests than Peter Quillin, who whilst remaining unbeaten himself (31-0, 22ko) has come in for yet more criticism over the quality of the opponents he has been facing recently. His last two opponents, the washed up fringe level veteran Lukas Konency and the over-matched 154lb Gabriel Rosado, were not necessarily looked at as legitimate defenses considering the wealth of talent that is swarming the 160lb division. Make what you will of Rosado now boxing for the unrecognized BKB organization, as an addendum to that that point.
With names like Golovkin, Murray, Cotto floating around and a once rumoured clash with Danel Jacobs still not happening, its not hard to see why Kid Chocolate gets criticized for his opponents.
Quillin won the WBO belt in an absolute thriller of a fight against France’s Hassan N’Dam in October 2012 in what remains for this writer, his best performance to date. He floored the relentless N’Dam 6 TIMES! on his way to a shut out UD victory.
N’Dam himself is now looking to fight Canadian banger David Lemieux for the vacant IBF strap after something of a fiasco in securing an opponent, so its not too unrealistic to imagine them re-matching in future should both become world champions.
In the case of Quillin, he has a hugely difficult task in trying to do so come April 11th. I imagine a close backwards and forward contest between the two men over the first half of the fight, in which the greater heart and tenacity of Andy Lee will slowly prevail. I expect patient and methodical boxing from the champion, working to a precise game plan set out by Adam Booth in his corner, a trainer with a fantastic reputation for being technically sound. I believe the ability to frustrate Quillin will be key as he is a fighter that can become quite uncomfortable when he’s not having everything his own way. My official fight prediction would be to bet on Lee retaining his title by UD.
One man who will be watching the fight with interest is British Olympic medallist Billy Joe Saunders. The mandatory challenger for the WBO title, Saunders was due to be the man facing Andy Lee, but in what I believe is a smart piece of business by the Hatfield fighter, he was paid a reported £100,000 to “step aside” and allow Quillin to take his shot.
Saunders still maintains his mandatory status and will not only fight the winner next, he is guaranteed US television exposure by boxing on the undercard. In fact, going into the fight that will be the ONLY certainty. That Saunders vs Lee, or Saunders vs Quillin is the next WBO middleweight fight in the pipeline.
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