By Kirk Jackson
Boxinginsider caught up with the WBO Middleweight Champion Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin in his hometown of Grand Rapids, to get his thoughts about his recent victory over Gabriel Rosado and his plans for the future.
BoxingInsider: How would you rate your performance against Gabriel Rosado in your last fight?
Kid Chocolate: I’m honest with myself with everything. I would give myself a B- for my performance. If I give myself the highest credit there’s nothing I can take away from the fight.
I feel like I can learn from the fight, it was a good fight, a good classic fight and there was a lot of controversy with the win. We just gotta box more, there are lessons I can take away from the fight, so I give myself a B-.
BoxingInsider: Is there anything from the fight that you can take away from and you want to improve on?
Kid Chocolate: Sometimes with a fight it’s telling a story, so with that, you have a determined a challenger in front of me with Rosado, he was trying his hardest to do everything and to try to beat me.
Ya know I could have jabbed more, threw more punches but the fight happened the way it happened and I got the win.
But there’s always something you can learn, you can always use my head a lot more, could have put more pressure on him but I won, I used my boxing ability and that’s most important about the whole thing.
Watching the fight was impressive in itself, you displayed a lot of versatility, you were pushing the pace early in the fight, applying pressure and you did manage to score a knockdown in the 2nd round.
And I was happy with that part. I am 30 years-old and I now have 22 knockouts in my professional fights.
Boxinginsider: And speaking of versatility, watching the fight I believe in the 4th or 5th Rosado was landing some good shots. I noticed you started boxing more, using more lateral movement, was there a change in your game plan, anything that your corner told you specifically to do in order to stop his momentum?
Kid Chocolate: Listen, he doesn’t have anything to lose. He will do whatever it takes to come out as the winner in the fight.
My job is to go in there and be smart and back him off and break him down and I was fighting backwards.
How many guys can fight backwards and be effective at it? Yea he hit with a few good shots but that’s a part of boxing. It comes with the territory and those who are not strong enough will not last. I’m just glad I am able to go out there and perform for the fans and just do my best.
My performance speaks for itself, I learn from every performance that I can and get better from it.
With him (Rosado) I learned a lot from it I learned a lot about myself, I’ve gone through struggles, my wife having a miscarriage, fighting through that and it was tough but I got through it.
Those struggles are difficult to deal with and when we spoke earlier, you mentioned in your preparation for your fight against Rosado, you were trying to get your mind right for that fight. When you’re going through training while dealing with personal matters outside the ring, is it more difficult to focus on the task at hand inside the ring or does it make you place even more focus on your upcoming fight?
I think being a boxer; it goes hand and hand with our lives. I remember to make because I fight through so much personal stuff, I am able to go out and fight strong, no matter what I go through… Not everyone can go through the struggles I’ve gone through and survive, I feel like I’m very fortunate.
Going back to your fight with Rosado, I noticed you were effective throwing lead right hands followed by a left hook, you threw good left hook counters, a strong left jab and good left hook leads as well. Were those punches something you specifically worked on in training camp?
I gotta do what’s natural. I’m learning in the fight, seeing what I can do in the fight. In training camp I had some of the best sparring partners I ever had. Julian Williams, Wale Omotoso, Donyil Livingston, they were bringing the best out of me in camp.
I can’t be completely satisfied with my performance, but I can say I did a lot of good things that I can be confident with.
I’m not a judge but I cut his eye open and that thing was not looking too nice for him and I started to capitalize on that.
A lot of boxing fans or a lot of his fans (Rosado), they must not be concerned with a guy losing his eye, they wanted to see a good fight.
They’re willing to see a good fight and see a guy not fight another day, but I’m not good with having that on my conscience.
I have to do what I have to do out there in the fight to come out and be the winner, I gotta go out there and do my job. And being that my job is violent, I’m going to do what I have to in order to be a winner and if it means going after that eye.
I believe it was a strong left jab that opened up the cut over Rosado’s eye. Listening to the Showtime commentators, they had the fight a little closer in contrast to how the three judges had scored the fight. The scores from the three judges were 90-80, 87-83 and 89-81 respectively. I thought it was a competitive fight, but had you well ahead during the time of the stoppage.
Well thank you. The most important part is going in there and being challenged by a tough competitor. Sometimes people may not understand what it means, to be the champion of the world. When you have someone in front of you who has that opportunity to take that title, it can be hard to fight that person off.
Even if there are some disgruntled fans that had a problem with the ending, I think for the most part, most boxing fans can appreciate the performance from both fighters and all we can do is move on from that.
And I have definitely. With the performance that he put up, he gets another payday. He (Rosado) showed he was a tough, durable fighter. I’m open for a rematch, if the money is behind it. It’s up to me to go out there and fight bigger and better opponents out there.
I want to see him (Rosado) come back strong, I’m going to be a fan of his and will be watching him in the future. They can talk bad about me but I appreciate being able to do this interview and I’m appreciative of all the opportunities God has given me.
I’m taking everything and being positive and being humbled by everything, and that’s allowed me to grow and be a complete person.
BoxingInsider: That’s a lot of respect displayed from your part. Not too many people across various professions, especially with this sport in particular, show the same level of appreciation and respect you do…
Kid Choclate: I know why though. Being a fighter is a violent thing, what happens is a lot of these guys don’t have an outlet to get their anger out.
I grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where stuff was asked to ask him be and I got through it. When I made it out the city, I never allowed myself to be pulled back in by the people that had negative intentions.
At the end of the day when I look back, I am very grateful and very humbled. I got 15 amateur fights. People thought I was going to be some kind of criminal breaking in someone’s house.
They would never understand my story unless they walked in my steps. There isn’t anyone who really walked in my shoes who understands…
I keep fighting with my heart, I keep carrying kisses (chocolate hershies) to the ring, I keep fighting with passion for the sport. Whenever I’m able to make a connection with a fan, it’s special. I look at that person in the eyes, I shake their hand and take my time. No matter what frustrations I’m going through, I have responsibilities to be as strong as I can be.
You mentioned in our previous interview, you’re not a match-maker so you can’t predict who you fight next. But ideally, is there anyone you would like to fight next? Like if the money was right, the situation was ideal for you?
With the politics in the sport right now, with all the fighters I could possibly fight, it’s not really in my hands. As long as I’m able to make good money and I’m fighting the top guys, I’m about to make a payday and I’m happy with that. And I’m able to earn my stripes and I can inspire people and I’m good with that.
Because of the politics in sport, the politics between the various promotional companies and the politics with the networks, it’s hard to see you matched up with some of the other premier fighters in the middleweight division such as Sergio Martinez and Gennady Golovkin (GGG). Would you consider moving up in weight or moving down in weight to secure a lucrative match-up against some of the other premier fighters of the sport?
Only time can tell in which is the most lucrative move for me to do. I take it one day at a time and whenever things are presented for me, that’s when I’ll take a look at my options and we’ll decide what’s the best move.
Right now, I’m just worried about being with my family, just trying to enjoy my time with them. When it’s time to get ready for a fight, I plan on already being prepared.
Boxinginsider: In regards to middleweight activity were you able to catch GGG’s fight against Stevens?
Kid Chocolate: I didn’t catch it man, I was at the crib and I was watching the fight with Perez against a fighter who is actually in a coma right now.
There’s people that talk about Gabe Rosado and they talk about the eye when that fight could was stopped. Stuff like that man, people want to complain about a stop because of a cut and you got some other fighters dying.
I didn’t catch the fight with (GGG) because I fell asleep and if I don’t catch the fight right then and there I don’t really go back and watch them. I’m just happy to see there is such an explosion of buzz and excitement with the middleweight division and I’m just happy to be a part of that.
In regards to Sergio Martinez, he mentioned in the past fighting guys like Miguel Cotto, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Floyd Mayweather. They are a little but smaller, do you think Martinez is afraid to fight you or may be avoiding…
Nah I’m trying to do the same shit. He (Martinez) is just trying to make the best fights and get the best money. He may be at the end of his rope or whatever, I don’t know but he is just trying to do what’s best for him.
Of course as a fighter I’d love to face him because he has all of the credit and accolades I’m trying to get. But if it doesn’t happen I’m not gonna be butt-hurt or anything, I just know there is going to be other opportunities because there’s always a fighter out there trying to make a name for themself.
Look at Floyd Mayweather 17 years in the game fighting the best of them, so at the end of the day I’m trying to make some money and do what I need to do.
BoxingInsider: Being that the Mayweather Family is from Grand Rapids and you’re back in your hometown, do you have any communication with the Mayweather family?
Big Floyd (Floyd Mayweather Sr.) helps me out a lot; me and him are friends from the streets and everything and with Floyd (Mayweather Jr.) I respect what he’s doing at the end of the day.
Kid Chocolate: You make it out of this state, out of this city, with everything I was surrounded by and grew up with; it makes me feel special to be where I’m at.
Boxinginsider: Speaking of champions who came from the struggle, I saw some footage of you speaking with the legendary long-time middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins. You guys were featured on the same card this past October; did he give you any advice in particular?
Kid Chocolate: I know Bernard and he’s been giving the best advice now for years. I’m glad to have the opportunity to speak with him and I’m very thankful to him at the end of the day.
It’s great to see a legend in the sport and former great middleweight champion speaking with another middleweight champion and a potential long time champion and legend in your own right. Is there anything you want to say to your fans?
I wanna just thank yall for catching up on the latest and greatest on me and I wanna thank all the viewers and listeners. I just hope at every stop I’m blessed and I do appreciate all the love. And the one thing you can say about me is I love to show love. Follow me on twitter and follow me on instagram and thank you for the support.
Follow Kid Chocolate on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/KIDCHOCOLATE
Follow Kid Chocolate on Instagram @ http://instagram.com/kidchocolate/
Check out Kid Chocolate’s website @ http://thekidchocolate.com/
Special thank you to Tiffani Carter!!
