By Dan Ambrose: Unbeaten middleweight contender Peter Quillin’s 10 round unanimous decision win over 40-year-old Winky Wright earned the 28-year-old Quillin a move up in The Ring’s ratings to the number #10 spot in the middleweight rankings, replacing Sebastian Zbik at number 10.

Now I usually don’t like to criticize the Ring’s rankings, but in this case I think this is a bone-headed move on their part. Quillin has never faced a quality fighter before and I don’t consider Wright as being quality at this point in his career after three years off.

By putting Quillin at #10, The Ring has him ranked above the following middleweights: Andy Lee, Jermain Taylor, Matt Karobov and Kerry Hope. I don’t think Quillin is better than any of those guys, and I see him getting knocked out by each one. He looked terrible last Saturday night in the Wright bout, seemingly unable to throw combinations. Quillin lunged each time he threw a right hand, and was wide open for shots while coming forward with his badly telegraphed right hands.

What’s scary is that Quillin is being positioned to fight Sergio Martinez. That’s the fight that they really want, and I think that would be a really bad idea if they put Quillin in the ring with a slugger like Martinez. It wouldn’t be pretty. Martinez would knock Quillin out cold. Quillin is about to turn 29, so if they want to wait two or three years and then try to get a fight against Martinez, then maybe I can see Quillin possibly winning the fight as long as he doesn’t get hit cleanly. Martinez will still be a huge puncher in three years, and Quillin will still have no inside game, no jab, and little ability to throw combinations. He’ll have a chance of beating a 40-year-old Martinez, but there will still be a high chance that he gets knocked cold.

What they should do is have Quillin lose some weight and try and make a go of it at 154. That division is so weak, and there’s two champions that no one even cares about. Quillin can win one of those belts I think, and maybe milk it for a few years until the division eventually gets better.