By Jon Ward: “Hey Kid Chocolate, how does it feel to be the best middleweight on the planet?” tweeted Oscar De La Hoya (Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin’s promoter) in July of 2013. Gennady Golovkin, the WBA champion had just moved to 27-0 with a display of body punching that nearly broke challenger Matthew Macklin in half and Sergio Martinez, still undefeated at middleweight then was universally recognized as the real 160lb champion at that time.
Quillin’s 28-0 record and WBO title weren’t insignificant despite the poor quality of his opposition and although De La Hoya’s comments were clearly not unconnected to his vested interest in Quillin’s career, there were many who saw the popular Chicago fighter as a future force in one of boxing’s most competitive divisions.
Having a title, a reasonably well-known name in boxing and a powerful promoter should have prepared Quillin for the next step towards dominance but instead the decline had already begun. As the other alphabet titles at middleweight were contested by a string of quality fights that saw genuine champions emerge, Quillin chose to fight just twice in 2014 and against over-matched opposition on both occasions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLJ4xCaye00
Aged 31 and with no significant names in his win column, the WBO then forced Quillin to take the step he should have instigated himself by installing the undefeated Russian Matt Korobov (then 24-0) as mandatory challenger for Quillin’s title. Korobov wasn’t a complete nobody; a stellar amateur career had meant that he was managed carefully as a professional and was yet to face a real test despite being a strong prospect. For Quillin, the news got even better; Jay-Z’s Roc Nation had been threatening to break into boxing for some time and they chose Quillin’s defense as their debut dropping a cool $1.9 million to beat all other bids combined. Also, in a situation that is uncommon for a boxer when his own promoter loses the bid, Roc Nation still planned to bring the fight to Quillin’s territory on the east coast. An untested challenger looming in a highly anticipated fight, a home crowd and a career high-purse of $1.4 million. Who could ruin this opportunity? Only Peter Quillin himself.
In August 2014, after requesting several extensions to iron out the details, Quillin announced that he would be vacating the WBO strap and passing on the $1.4 million for a bigger fight that Al Haymon had lined up for him. With the other middleweight titlists having matches scheduled and no word from Floyd Mayweather about a planned move to the 160lb division the boxing world eagerly awaited news of the bigger fight that Quillin (who had yet to highlight a PPV) had planned. In the meantime the popular Irishman Andy Lee was drafted in to fight Korobov for the vacant title in December in a match-up that proved memorable.
Korobov’s technical ability and speed were as impressive as billed and he seemed superior to Lee in every area…until a brief lapse in the sixth gave Lee all the opportunity he needed to stun the Russian and finish him off. Then the situation really became farcical. Lee was now the first member of the traveling community to hold a world title and his mandatory challenger was none other than former British Olympian and fellow traveler, the undefeated Billy Joe Saunders. Lee had worked hard to resuscitate his career following a loss to Julio Chavez Jr. and the stage was now set for him and Saunders to share an epic battle. Who then enters the scene other than the now belt-less Kid Chocolate after almost a year out of action, keen to take his title back.
The “mega fight” Quillin spoke of had evidently never materialized and challenging Andy Lee not only required taking the smaller, challenger’s share of the purse. Did something in Lee’s performance make him seem more beatable than Korobov? Possibly. The bigger question though is what will Quillin do if he does win the title. If Korobov represented too much of a challenge, would Quillin really risk a loss to the technically superior Saunders, a man who has held his own in much better company? And if not, why go through the facade of retaking the belt in the first place?
Last week we watched Martin Murray get demolished by Golovkin in Monaco. The capable British fighter lost in his third and probably last tilt at a world title, a journey that has seen him take on a prime Sergio Martinez in Argentina and visit Germany to battle Felix Sturm. Even Martinez himself hasn’t had an easy ride, usually going to his opponent’s hometown and often taking the smaller purse share in the process. Some fighters as we have seen just have to face adversity both in and out of the ring and still they rise to overcome it. Others, like Peter Quillin have the world at their feet and still underachieve. That’s why, when he finally returns to the ring this month, I won’t be cheering for what I feel is the least ambitious man in boxing.
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