Newly-crowned USBO Super Middleweight champion and undefeated prospect, Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (24-0, 18 KO’s), finds himself in a sweet position after his electrifying knockout of former world title challenger Jesse Brinkley (35-7, 22 KO’s) on April 30 in Reno, Nevada in a fight televised live on TeleFutura’s “Solo Boxeo Tecate.”
The 27-year-old Quillin rocked Brinkley in the opening round with an overhand right, showed poise during target practice in the following round, and finished-off the then International Boxing Federation (“IBF”) No. 7-rated Brinkley when referee Joe Cortez mercifully halted the action at 2:34 of the third.
“Going into that fight I had a lot more confidence to do in the ring what I had worked so hard on in training camp,” Quillin said. “I orchestrated my camp and was more in rhythm to take care of boxing in order to be an explosive winner. I hurt him in the first round but didn’t go in for the kill. I relaxed and took my shots, realizing I could hit him again at any time. I hit him with a lot of hard, accurate shots. I stayed with our game plan in the second round but my corner (trainer Eric Brown) told me after the second round that Brinkley was ready to go.
“Our game plan was to box him the first five rounds and go from there with a lot of pressure. I hurt him in the first but didn’t pressure him then because I didn’t exactly know how he’d react. I never underestimated him because he’s a serious fighter. I didn’t want to risk trying to finish him off then. I was in the biggest fight of my career and just did what was natural. I knew I had a lot of power and he was right there for me to hit. I wanted to show more boxing, go to the body, but the fight only lasted three rounds.”
Quillin is now in an enviable position, training at Wild Club Boxing Club under Freddie Roach and Brown, promoted by Golden Boy, and even being mentioned as a participant in a high-profile fight, possibly against Sergio Martinez.
“I’ll fight anybody put in front of me as long as everybody – Golden Boy, my manager (John Seip) and corner – all agree that the opponent is the right one at this stage of my career,” Quillin noted.
Seip doesn’t believe there’s a rush for “Kid Chocolate” to be in a mega-fight, or need to fight again above middleweight. He noted that Quillin is a relatively young 27 with only 15 amateur matches and no “wars” as a professional having won 84 of 86 rounds.
“I’ve been with Petey six years and we’re going to stay the course,” Seip explained. “Why deviate? He’s on his way and totally destroyed Brinkley. He’s getting stronger working with his strength-and-conditioning coach, Brad Bose (Anatomi Gym in Santa Monica), who I call ‘The Professor’ because of his cutting edge programs. We’re sold on Golden Boy, Freddie Roach and Eric Brown, and believe with them he’ll become world champion. Petey has youth, athleticism, speed and power but people still haven’t seen his best punch, yet – left hook – because he’s been hurting guys with his right. I’d like to get him one or two more fights against a top 10, top 5 opponent before putting him in a world title fight. Physically, he’s capable right now, but this is the big time and I want to make sure he’s mentally prepared for the pressures of fighting in a major fight.
“He certainly was impressive, looking real strong against Brinkley, but Petey is going back down to 160 for good. We took this one fight against Brinkley because it was a great opportunity, but Petey is a middleweight, and I believe he’s the biggest puncher there. After the fight Brinkley told me Petey hits harder than (Lucian) Bute. We’ve been patient all along and there’s no reason to change now.”
