NEW YORK CITY (April 14, 2014) – Undefeated World Boxing Organization (WBO) middleweight champion of the World, Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin, is fighting for respect this Saturday night on SHOWTIME against No. 2 ranked Czech challenger Lukas Konecny (50-4, 23 KOs).
Quillin vs. Konecny is part of a Golden Boy Promotions event, sponsored by Corona and AT&T, and headlined by the world light heavyweight unification fight between IBF champion Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins and WBA title-holder Beibut Shumenov. The live SHOWTIME tripleheader telecast will begin at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast) and be available in Spanish via secondary audio programming (SAP).
Quillin is a victim of a network war. The 30-year-old Cuban-American fights on Showtime but other top world middleweight champions such as Sergio Martinez and Gennady Golovkin are tied to HBO. Critics, however, have unfairly write about whom Quillin hasn’t fought instead of his many accomplishments.
“If the money is right,” Quillin has said over and over to no avail thus far, “I’m up for fighting any of the top names, especially Martinez and Golovkin. But everybody’s aware of what’s going on behind the scenes (networks). My job is to work hard and be ready.”
Only two current undefeated world champions have better records than Quillin’s 30-0 (22 KOs): junior middleweight/welterweight Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (46-0, 26 KOs) and super featherweight Mikey Garcia (34-0, 28 KOs).
The powerful Quillin has knocked down his opponents a grand total of 32 times in 30 fights,
including 11 in his three world title fights
Quillin has somehow morphed into the “Rodney Dangerfield of Boxing.” As the late Dangerfield famously said, “I can’t get no respect.” Neither can Quillin, it seems, despite defeating everybody he’s fought as a pro, 30 up and 30 down.
“Some things can’t be explained,” Quillin spoke about not gaining the respect he deserves. “I’m not a matchmaker, never have been and it’s too late now. I have the most powerful team in boxing (promoter Golden Boy, adviser Al Haymon and co-managers John Seip and Jim McDevitt). I let them decide who I fight. I learned not to worry about what some people say. Hey, I want to fight the best middleweights in the world, but I understand that boxing is a business. I just stay focused on who I’m fighting and Konecny has 50 wins.
“I’ve been undefeated for 9 ½ years and not many can say that. I’m the only American middleweight champion, the only world champion from where I grew up in Grand Rapids (MI) since Floyd. I fight for my family, fans and friends. I’m proud to be American and Cuban. I enjoy being an inspiration for people, especially immigrants like my father who came to America looking for a better life. I even got my GED a few months ago to better myself outside the ring. I am living the American dream.”
All “Kid Chocolate” does is win, baby!
Quillin has trained for this fight at home in New York City, instead of Los Angles where his camp has been for his previous eight fights, largely due to family considerations. He’s been able to stay close to his pregnant wife, Allison, although they’ve lived separately during camp. Quillin has also been comfortable training at home, receiving physical therapy, massages and acupuncture treatments twice a week at Wall Street Physical Medicine in Manhattan. He has also gotten invaluable help from Andre at Velocity Sports Performance NYC in Manhattan, as well as conditioning workouts from Coach Dino from the world famous 5th St. Gym in Miami Beach.
Tickets priced at $25, $50, $75, $200 and $300, plus applicable taxes, fees and services charges are on sale now and are available online at http://www.ticketmaster.com, all Ticketmaster locations or by calling (800) 745-3000. The DC Armory Box Office will be open on fight night only from 3:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. ET.
For more information about Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin go online to www.TheKidChocolate.com (Team Kid Chocolate T-shirts on sale here) or follow him on Twitter @KidChocolate and Instagram@KidChocolate.
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
