Quillin vs. Truax & Derevyanchenko vs. Culcay this Sat. LIVE on FS1

By Boxing News - 04/07/2019 - Comments

Image: Quillin vs. Truax & Derevyanchenko vs. Culcay this Sat. LIVE on FS1

By Mike Smith: Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin will be fighting Caleb Truax in an IBF super middleweight title eliminator in the main event and Sergiy Derevyanchenko will be fighting Jack Culcay in an IBF 160 pound title eliminator in the co-feature bout this Saturday night on April 13 on Premier Boxing Champions on FS1 and FOX Deportes at The Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The fight action begins at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT.

Truax is the hometown fighter, and the crowd will firmly behind him in this fight. Quillin will need to find some of his youth and the form that he showed years ago when he was at the height of his career from 2011 to 2014.

The 35-year-old Quillin (34-1-1, 23 KOs) will be fighting for only the third time in the last four years since being blown out in a first round knockout by Daniel Jacobs on December 5, 2015. The International Boxing Federation is being very generous in giving Quillin a #4 ranking with their organization with him having done so little since his loss to Jacobs. The only two fights Quillin has hand since 2015 have come against journeyman Dashon Johnson (22-23-3, 7 KOs) and J’Leon Love. Quillin was forced to go the distance against both of those fighters. Quillin fought once in 2018 and once in 2017. He didn’t fight at all in 2016. With Quillin’s inactivity, and the lower level opposition he’s been facing, it’s difficult to predict what we’ll see from him against the 35-year-old former IBF super middleweight champion Truax (30-4-2, 19 KOs).

“I’m approaching this fight very seriously because I know Truax is a durable guy who knows how to fight,” said Quillin. “He comes from a background where people don’t give him credit for what he’s done, and those are the most dangerous guys.”

For all intents and purposes, Quillin is at the last chance saloon in this fight. He was obliterated by Jacobs, and he’s frittered away the last four years of his career showing no sense of urgency to get back into the thick of things. Quillin might as well have been retired all these years, because his only two fights during that time were against poor opposition.

Quillin had better take this fight serious, because Truax is a former world champion, and he arguably should still be the IBF 168 lb belt holder if not a controversial 12 round unanimous decision defeat at the hands of James DeGale last year on April 7, 2018 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. DeGale spent most of the clinching and moving to try and slow down Truax’s work rate. When there was separation between the two, Truax landed the harder, more effective punches. DeGale clinched to the point where he arguably should have lost points for his excessive holding. The judges scored the fight to DeGale by the scores 114-113, 117-110 and 114-113. Boxing News 24 had Traux winning by the score 116-112. Truax came back from that loss to defeat Fabiano Soares (15-11-1, 11 KOs) by a third round knockout on August 24 last year at the Minneapolis Armory, in Minneapolis.

“I’m no stranger to fighting in my opponent’s backyard,” Quillin said. “My job is to go into the ring and go home with the win. I’m looking to walk away with some of his fans on my side by winning the fight and putting on a great performance.”

Quillin and Truax share a common opponent in Daniel Jacobs. Traux was stopped in the 12th round by Jacobs four years ago on April 24, 2015. As mentioned earlier, Quillin was knocked out in the first round by Jacobs in December 2015. Jacobs did a far better job of getting Quillin out of there, but he made easy for him out slugging. Quillin tried to mix it up with Jacobs from the opening bell, and he put him in a position where he was forced to let his hands go. That’s not something you want to do against a big puncher like Jacobs. He buried Quillin with shots.

The winner of the Quillin vs. Truax fight will be the mandatory challenger to IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant. He’s got Truax’s old title that he lost to DeGale last year. It’s possible that the winner of the Quillin-Truax fight will get a quick title shot against Plant, because he doesn’t have anyone notable that he can fight right now. There’s talk of Plant facing David Benavidez in the near future if he beats WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell to regain his WBC belt, but that’s a fight that won’t happen for a while now.

In co-feature action, #3 IBF Derevyanchenko (12-1, 10 KOs) will be looking to earn a rematch against IBF middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs when he faces #2 IBF Jack Culcay (25-3, 13 KOs) in an IBF 160 lb title eliminator. Derecvyanchenko, 33, lost to Jacobs by a narrow 12 round split decision in a fight for the vacant International Boxing Federation middleweight title last October by the scores 115-112, 115-112 for Jacobs, and 114-113 for Derevyanchenko. The 2008 Olympian Derevyanchenko has looked impressive in the recent past in beating Tureano Johnson and Dashon Johnson before losing to Jacobs on October 27 last year. What hurt Derevyanchenko’s chances of beating Jacobs was getting dropped by him in the first round. Derevyanchenko got off to a slow start in the fight, and was never able to come back from it. Derevyanchenko was the IBF mandatory for Gennady Golovkin last year, but the Kazakhstan fighter was forced to give up the belt because he was in negotiations with Saul Canelo Alvarez for a rematch. The IBF wanted GGG to defend the title against Derevyanchenko close to the time that he would be facing Canelo last September, and there just wasn’t enough time for Triple G to take both fights.

Culcay, 33, is a 2008 Olympian, who was born in Ambato, Ecuador, and now resides in Davie, Florida. Culcay has been a pro for ten years since 2009, and has losses to Guido Nicolas Pitto, Demetrius Andrade and Maciel Sulecki. The defeats have slowed Culcay’s career down. Each time he would start to get some momentum by putting together a string of wins, he would then get beat, and be put back to square one. Culcay has won his last three fights since losing back to back fights to Andrade by a 12 round split decision, and Maciel Sulecki by a 10 round unanimous decision in 2017. Culcay’s last three wins have come against Rafael Bejaran, Adasat Rodriguez and Craig Cunningham. Culcay held the interim World Boxing Association junior middleweight title from 2015 to 2016, successfully defending it times times in beating Dennis Hogan and Jean Carlos Prada. Derevyanchenko has the power and the style to beat Culcay if he can push the pace, and force him to slug it out way he was doing against Jacobs.