By: Andrew Johnson
Questions about the future of the Super Middleweight division were left unanswered on Saturday night after the bout between Caleb Truax and Peter Quillin was declared a no contest after the second round. A clash of heads, initiated by a Quillin lunge, caused a cut over Truax’s eye in the middle of round 2.
“The head butt came during an exchange where he led with his head.” said a deflated Truax after the truncated fight. “As soon as I turned around the blood started dripping into my right eye.”
From ringside, it looked like Truax knew a stoppage was inevitable almost immediately after he was cut. A river of bright, red blood streamed over his eye and down his nose throughout the rest of the second round. The doctor’s decision to stop the fight was not a surprise, but it meant that over 4,000 fans left the arena without seeing their hometown hero land a meaningful punch.
The unsatisfying conclusion seemed to hurt Truax more than the gash on his face. “It’s disappointing I couldn’t put on a good fight for the fans.” Truax said after the fight was stopped. “I’m flattered that everybody came out for me. The fans are doing a great job representing how strong our boxing community is.”
The clash of heads was unintentional and Quillin didn’t try to overplay his performance, even though he probably won the first two rounds. He said “I don’t think I deserve to fight (IBF Champion) Caleb (Plant) with this kind of win. I want to do it again with Truax here in Minnesota or come back to Brooklyn, my home.”
PBC has already booked a date at The Armory in Minneapolis for mid-July with Jamal James (25-1-0, 12 KOs) as the only fighter announced for the event. Maybe Truax and Quillin will try again in mid-July, but it is unlikely that Plant will wait that long to defend his title.
Earlier in the evening, Sergiy Derevyanchenko (13-1, 10 KO) outpointed a sturdy Jack Culcay (25-4-0, 3 KOs) in an IBF title eliminator match at 160 lbs. The victory keeps the Ukrainian fighter in the mix for the IBF belt.
Joey Spencer (7-0-0, 6 KOs) won an underwhelming decision in a fight where he was supposed to shine. Osias Vasquez (4-2, 0 KOs) was no match for Spencer, but he made it the distance and frustrated his opponent throughout the six rounds.
Money Powell IV (10-0-0, 6 KOs) made the most out of his opportunity and delivered the strongest performance of the evening. The 21 year-old looked sharp and showed tremendous potential in his TKO victory against Christian Aguirre (8-5-0, 4 KOs). He started slow, but built momentum by firing impressive combinations that Aguirre could not handle. Look for Powell to appear in the televised portion of future PBC on FS1 events.