By Chris Cella
On April 27 in front of thousands of his hometown fans at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, undefeated WBO middleweight champion Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin will look to defend his newly acquired boxing belt for the first time against a gamed opponent in Fernando Guerrero.
Quillin (28-0, 20 KO) captured the title last October when he beat down Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam for 12 rounds, sending him to the canvas six times, and is anxious to return to action against Guerrero.
“April 27 against Guerrero is not about going out there and matching my performance last fight,” Quillin told Boxing Insider. “But it’s about keep inspiring people, working hard and being the dominating champion that I am. I know he’s going to come out and fight for a lot of good reasons, especially as he wants to be crowned the first Dominican Republic champion. But I’m ready, and I became champion; now it’s about keeping my belt and defending it with honor and pride.”
In 2010 Quillin began a streak of knockouts which lasted five fights before going the distance with former undisputed light middleweight champion of the world and future Hall-of-Famer Winky Wright, a fight that really helped propel him to the title shot he got in October. Quillin seized the moment, and in doing so became the only current American middleweight champion.
“I am ready to take the division by storm, and I want to face the top names,” said Quillin. “Right now Guerrero is number one on my list as he is who I will be facing April 27, but I’d like the fight Geale, Martinez and Golovkin. They are the big names of the division, and they are who I want to beat to really establish myself as a superstar of the sport.”
Much like Quillin, Guerrero (25-1, 19 KO) too possesses serious knockout power and has fought his career to get this opportunity for a world title. The southpaw has shown in recent fights his ability to do damage to his opponents, and with Quillin’s eager style to come forward and bring the fight, should make for a very fan-friendly bout.
The stage is set for Quillin to shine in his first title defense. He will be in his hometown, fighting in front of his loyal fans, against a hungry opponent looking to play spoiler and take the belt away.
But Quillin is ready to take the middleweight division by storm, and is confident that he will retain his belt later this month.
“Come April 27 fans are going to hear, ‘and still champion of the world, Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin.”
The fight is part of the undercard of the light welterweight championship of the world between Danny Garcia and Zab Judah.