Quillin Comes Full Circle
By Steve Kim, MaxBoxing (Oct 20, 2012) Doghouse Boxing (Photo © Marty Rosengarten - Hoganphotos/ Golden Boy Promotions)
-  
Peter Quillin
By now you’ve probably heard the Horatio Alger-like story of Peter Quillin and his departure from Grand Rapids, Michigan to New York with nothing but a sense of desperation and his dreams. As his boxing career stalled in Gotham City, the middleweight hopeful migrated to Los Angeles to regain his bearings as a boxer. This Saturday night, he returns to Brooklyn to face Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam for the WBO middleweight crown (Showtime, 8 p.m., ET/PT).
 
From virtual homelessness to the Barclays Center, “Kid Chocolate” has come full circle.
 
“It’s special; it’s just another step up the ladder. It’s important to show progress,” he said a couple of weeks ago after his day’s work at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood. “It’s important to show where your hard work is trying to get you. I went to Grand Rapids, lived the same exact way I lived in New York City and what I learned about myself is that in the climb to get to the top, you gotta be alone a lot of the time. So I’m just learning how to be able to be on my own and get to where I want to be. So this magical night right here is historic, not only for Brooklyn, but for me as well.”

If you’ve perused the internet or Googled “Peter Quillin,” you’re bound to have heard this story before. He moved from Michigan to New York in 2002 “because I wanted a change. I told myself that being in the streets of Grand Rapids, I was just going to be a victim of my society, victim of my community, which is a lot of poverty, a lot of people that hate you for no reason. But what I did, I was fighting and wasn’t boxing but I always knew how to box. So I was knocking guys out fighting in the street and learned how to box.”
 
When asked what his fate would’ve been in Grand Rapids (best known for being the hometown of Floyd Mayweather), Quillin, the son of a Cuban refugee, answers, “I never question God’s will, where God got me at now. So it’s in the books and only He knows what He has planned for me. I didn’t know; I just went along for the ride.”
 
Quillin says New York was good for him but not necessarily easy. “No, it wasn’t easy and what I learned being in New York for all that time, what it did, you start to create a level of comfort and as a fighter, you can never be comfortable and you can never be relaxed. So I always wanted to put myself in an environment where I have to challenge myself,” he states. Back then, Quillin’s career was being handled by Cedric Kushner and it would eventually stall. It was at that point when changes were made. He got out of his deal with CKP and took the advice of Horace Greeley, going west to the Wild Card Boxing Club. “I’m always trying to get better,” he said. “I believe that putting myself in a level of uncomfortability creates your character. So that’s what I did and moved to California and train at the Wild Card where it’s an aggressive gym; the atmosphere, you can smell it.”
 
Quillin remembers the exact date he made the move - June 2nd, 2010. Since then, he’s signed with Golden Boy Promotions and inked a deal with the influential (to say the least) Al Haymon. During this stretch, he racked up wins over the likes of Dennis Sharpe, Jesse Brinkley, Jason LeHoullier, Craig McEwan and, most recently, Winky Wright. All this set up a shot for the WBO crown. Originally, he was slated for Marco Antonio Rubio. He ended up fighting for a major belt but probably ended up with a tougher foe in the athletic Frenchman.
 
His trainer, Eric Brown, tells Maxboxing, “I don’t know if it’s an upgrade; it’s just a different style. Rubio is not the kind of boxer that’s going to move a lot, give Pete lots of movement. He’s going to be there in front of Pete for the most part and actually make it easier for Pete. N’Jikam, I think is going to be more of a challenge because this guy’s a mover; he’s a great boxer. He relies on his movement for his defense and he counterpunches very good. So Pete’s going to have a challenge cutting the ring and taking it to him, putting some hurt on him, slowing him down and getting rid of him late.”
 
Quillin doesn’t seem too concerned either way. It’s all part of this gig.
 
“I don’t worry about the opponent,” he says. “I just worry about the fight and I worry about the training aspect of it. I got a hardworking team behind me who works on getting me the best fights and the best opportunities and best money. People forget I do this for a living; this is my job. When people say, ‘What do you do?’ I say, ‘I’m a professional boxer.’ So you can’t think that fighting for the glory always pays the bills. So I recognize having a group of people that’s very powerful in boxing helps your career.”
 
If there’s one thing that sets off the normally good-natured and charismatic Quillin, it’s those who doubt him on social platforms like Twitter. Yeah, he’s been known to verbally spar with various fans, fight scribes and fellow boxers alike, 140 characters at a time. Marvin Hagler never had to deal with this type of stuff. But again, you probably couldn’t imagine him having a Twitter account (at least during his days as the middleweight king) either.
 
“He’s a Twitter, Facebook fiend,” said Brown, laughing loudly at the thought. “He’s like a junkie for it and I have to tell him, ‘Look, man, quit listening to that sh*t.’ He’s a very, very emotional guy and he has a tendency sometimes to listen to the hype and let the hype bother him. I tell him, ‘Don’t let that bother you because it ain’t none of them getting in the ring boxing with you, OK? So don’t worry about that; everybody’s going to have their opinion. Everybody’s going to have something to say. Don’t worry about that; just go in there and keep doing what you’re doing. Keep winning and just shut all their mouths.’”
 
“Kid Chocolate” claims, “I’ve stopped reading that because if it’s not positive, why put that energy into your body? So what I learned is that most of the guys that do that are guys who sit behind their computers, had a couple of bad fights in their life where they didn’t come up good; they came up short. Now they try and rain on my parade. But, for the most part, that’s the only thing that motivates me right now is getting to the top with those guys saying that I can’t.”
 
For Quillin, beating N’Jikam and capturing his first major belt would only be a step from where he’s been to where he’s headed.
 
“That just shows your progress in the sport,” he said. “It might mean nothing to the fans but it means something to me, a guy that came off the floor, sleeping on the floor. They say that people are worried about me coming in their house after hours; I’m that guy. But I made a 180 [degree] turn to be able to motivate people and inspire people through the hard work I put into the gym.”

TERRIBLE SITUATION

Just a day before the weigh-ins for this card at the Barclays Center, news broke that Erik Morales, who was scheduled to face unified junior welterweight titlist Danny Garcia in the main event, had tested positive for a banned substance. These outlets had the story first...

These reports were later confirmed by Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer. OK, before we go out and publicly flog anyone, everyone should let due process take its course and go from there. But I have one question: what are the terms of the agreement between USADA and Golden Boy as it relates to this fight and a positive test? To me, that will determine whether we see this main event on Showtime or not.

FREEBIES

In my previous article, I detailed how the discounting of tickets by Golden Boy Promotions and the Barclays Center was alienating fans who actually purchase tickets and have the temerity to support the business of boxing (http://www.maxboxing.com/news/main-lead/azad-championship-report-paulie-comes-home). Well, things got even more farcical with this offer put out earlier this week, which in effect gave any resident of Brooklyn four (not one, two or three but four, whether you like it or not) freebies.
 
http://faninfo.letsgonets.net/nl/jsp/m.jsp?c=acaa8895b06ebba1ab

Uh, yeah, but I have a feeling that the Brett Yormark Foundation wasn’t given any four-packs for the Jay-Z concert in this building. You don’t need to be an insider at StubHub to figure out how things are going with this promotion. It’s a very simple example of supply-and-demand; if there was an actual demand, you wouldn’t have to do such an obvious and brazen dumping of tickets ( What I found funny is that this latest offer says the re-selling of tickets was prohibited. Well, yeah, the secondary market for this event isn’t exactly robust. But trust me; there will be folks out there scalping tickets - and they’ll be getting pennies on the dollar. I’ve been told by veterans of this business that free tickets always end up for sale on the street corner. After all, a profit is guaranteed with the first dollar). This now creates a bit of a dilemma for both sides. Why would fans possibly purchase tickets early on at the box-office knowing that they might get slashed? On the flipside, if the tickets don’t move, well, what do they do with a huge backload?

It’s a vicious cycle.

Yormark, who also runs the Brooklyn Nets along with this venue (http://www.nba.com/nets/news/brett_yormark.html), could’ve had a heavyweight title fight featuring world champ Wladimir Klitschko but got locked into an exclusive agreement with Golden Boy long before the doors ever opened. The Klitschkos, drawing on the sizable Ukrainian and Russian population, have traditionally done very well in the Big Apple (routinely drawing over 10,000 patrons).

But get your tickets, regardless. Hey, better late than...well, early.

FRIDAY FLURRIES

Yvon Michel says that he has had discussions with HBO and Gary Shaw about a potential rematch between Jean Pascal and Chad Dawson. Yeah, that’s what HBO subscribers want: more Dawson...Main Events announced on Thursday that Bowie Tupou will face Bryant Jennings on NBC Sports Network December 8th at Temple University...Glen Johnson coming back to face George Groves?! Say it ain’t so!...Seriously, the Miller 64 song is very catchy...This is homecoming weekend at Montebello High School. The best five years of my life...
.

For much more on other stars of Boxing, visit our newswire on the homepage now



NEW: Follow Doghouse Boxing on FaceBook!
For more Boxing News 24/7 and so much more... 
visit our homepage now!



© Copyright / All Rights reserved: Doghouse Boxing Inc. 1998-2012