By Chris Williams: Former world champions Peter Quillin (34-1-1, 23 KOs) and Caleb Truax (30-4-2, 19 KOs) will be squaring off in a 10 round fight at super middleweight on Saturday, April 13 on Premier Boxing champions on FS1 at The Armory, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Quillin-Truax will be headlining on PBC on FS1 in a televised card that begins at 10:00 p.m. ET / 7:00 p.m. PT.
Truax has to be viewed as the favorite in this fight against Quillin. He’s the much more active of the two fighters, and he’ll be fighting at home in Minnesota on April 13. Quillin is a good fighter, but he’s frittered away his best years of his boxing career by being inactive. Some fans wonder whether Quillin really loves the sport. He’s clearly a fan of boxing, but when it comes to competing in it, you have to wonder whether he loves it enough to put in the hard work.
Quillin hates being pressured, and he tends to struggle when he faces someone that is coming forward the entire fight. Quillin was destroyed by an aggressive Danial Jacobs in 2015, and he had big problems in his fights with Gabriel Rosado, Andy Lee and Dionisio Miranda. Truax’s pressure is going to give Quillin a lot of problems in this fight. If Quillin can’t get a knockout, he could break from Truax’s heavy hands and his pressure. Quillin has a lot of talent, but Truax’s power, and his huge heart could be more than enough for him to get the victory on April 13. Truax wasn’t blessed with the same kind of talent that Quillin possesses, but he clearly wants it more and was willing to make the most of what little physical talent that he was blessed with.
These two guys are seen as washed up by a lot of boxing fans. The fact that Truax recently held the IBF super middleweight title says a lot about the division as a whole. Like a bird of prey, Saul Canelo Alvarez recently moved up to super middleweight to snag an easy belt from a vulnerable champion Rocky Fielding last month on December 15.
Quillin disappeared from boxing for two years after being knocked out in the first round by Daniel Jacobs in December 2015. When Quillin did return finally in 2017, he defeated journeyman Dashon Johnson and J’Leon Love by decisions in back to back fights in 2017 and 2018. Although Quillin performed well enough to be seen as possessing talent, he didn’t look good enough to believe that he’s a threat to any of the current super middleweight champions. Quillin did what he had to do in beating Love and Dashon, but neither of those fighters are considered talented enough for the wins to mean anything.
Truax, 35, lost his International Boxing Federation 168 pound title to James DeGale by a 12 round unanimous deicsion in a rematch last April. Truax picked up a win in his last fight in stopping Brazilian journeyman Fabiano Soares (15-11-1, 11 KOs) by a third round knockout last summer on August 24.
The slightly taller 6’1″ Quillin has the height advantage over the 6’0″ Truax, but his reach is four inches shorter. Quillin has the hand speed advantage, but his punch resistance is shaky at best. For every advantage Quillin has over Truax, he has an equal disadvantage. Quillin has been in with the better opposition during his career, but he’s not looked good in many of those fights. Quillin lost to Jacobs, and many boxing fans thought that he should have lost to Andy Lee as well. Quillin has wins over Winky Wright, Hassan N’Dam, Jason LeHoullier, Fernando Guerrero, Gabriel Rosado, Lukas Konecny and Michael Zerafa. However, Quillin doesn’t have a solid name on his resume. Wright was old by the time he fought Quillin.
In September 2014, Quillin vacated his World Boxing Organization when he was on the verge of being ordered to defend the belt against top contender Matt Korobov. A lot of people think Quillin vacated his WBO belt in order to avoid Korobov, who was unbeaten at the time, and would have a big problem for Peter to deal with. Boxing fans saw what the 35-year-old Korobov did against interim WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo recently in losing a controversial 12 round decision to him on December 22 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Imagine the huge problems a younger 31-year-old Korobov prevented to Quillin. But by vacating the WBO title, Quillin didn’t have to deal with Korobov. The move still didn’t work out well for Quillin, as he lost a year of his career after that by staying inactive for 12 months before coming back to fight Andy Lee to a questionable 12 round draw in April 2015. Quillin’s career has never regained the traction that it once had since then.
Quillin’s career has been sputtering along like an old V8 automobile in need of a major tune-up. Quillin beat an over-matched Michael Zerafa in 2015 before losing to Jacobs by a first round knockout in December 2015. Quillin then decided to take another long break from boxing, this time for two years. That long break combined with the one year break by Quillin from 2014 to 2015 means that he’s been out of the ring 3 out of the last 5 years of his career. With his tendency to be inactive for long periods of time from boxing, Quillin is his own worst enemy. You don’t know what Quillin is going to do after his fight with Truax. Does Quillin continue to fight or does he take off for another long extended holiday of one to two years?
If Truax is able to take Quillin into the later rounds of the fight, he should be able to knock him out. Quillin always looks so nervous in his fights, like someone that is on the verge of suffering a mental breakdown. All Truax needs to do to win the fight is for him to be on top of Quillin the entire fight, not letting him breath and forcing him to fight, he likely will stop him. A loss for Quillin will be a big blow for what’s left of his career. If Quillin follows his usual pattern, he’ll disappear from boxing for one to two years while he rests up. By the time Quillin does return to the ring, he’k be 36-years-old, and not capable of turning things around with his career. Quillin is a good fighter, but he’s facing someone that wants it more than him in Truax, and that’s likely going to be the difference in this fight.
A win for Quillin or Truax will increase the chances of them fighting for a world title soon. Neither guy would likely stand much of a chance against Canelo Alvarez, Callum Smith or Gilberto Ramirez, but they would still give them a run for their money.