“Kid Chocolate-‘Peter Quillin’-Returns”
BoxingGlove Notes
Distinio Lois, Jr.
Eligio Sardina Montalvo the original “Cuban Bon-Bon”-now Kid Chocolate of the 1930’s, is not the one I was talking about, it is Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin, American born Cuban, named Kid Chocolate by his Cuban born father honoring Montalvo once his son decided to become a boxer.
Quillin is the former undefeated W.B.O. 160 Pound Champion with a record of, 31-0, 22 knockouts. So on Saturday, April 11, 2015, Kid Chocolate challenged, Andy Lee, 34-2, 24 k.o.’s & current W.B.O. Champion for said W.B.O. crown he once owned, at the majestic Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y. Although it was the semi-final fight of a great fight card promoted by Al Haymon’s, Premier Boxing Championships and Lou DiBella’s, Dibella Entertainment, Quillin’s story has an emotional human taste to it.
After winning his coveted Middleweight W.B.O. Middleweight belt and defending it successfully 3 times, Peter Quillin was offered the biggest purse-$1.4 million dollars- of his boxing career in a main event championship fight against undefeated Russian challenger, Matt Kuborov in the Washington D.C. Armory.
Suddenly, the offer that was made by Jay-Z’s Roc Nation’s Sports was refused by Quillin, and to the shock of the boxing community, he also relinquished his W.B.O. crown with no understandable justification nor explanation.
Almost a year to the day that he left, Quillin came back and he explained that the reason for his sudden departure from his fans and a career he loved was very personal and emotional, and he had no choice but to put boxing behind him with the intent of returning soon.
He stated that he had his new born son, and then his uncle Eric Munson who raised him as a son while his father went to prison, was dying of cancer and he had to attend to him. He stated that he could not really concentrate on his career while he spent great moments with his uncle who was also able to see his own son before he passed away weeks later.
His only regret was that he was not able to attend the funeral because he was already in training camp preparing for his fight with W.B.O. Champ Andy Lee. Peter Quillin also stated that he was selected to play the role of former 140 pound & 147 pound champion, Roger “The Black Mamba” Mayweather, uncle of Floyd Mayweather who he was training for his mega fight with Manny Pacquiao, scheduled for Saturday, May 2nd 2015.
The movie titled “Bleed for This” is based on a true life story of another great ring warrior, Vinny “The Pazmanien Devil” Pazienza, who will be played by actor, Miles Teller.
“Now that I am back, my uncle is at peace, the movie is done with, thanks to Mr. Al Haymon, I could concentrate on my boxing career, with the opportunity to win my title back.
I expect a hard fight from Lee who was trained and mentored by the late Emmanuel Steward.”, stated Quillin. Super confident Andy Lee then stated that he had been training hard in the beautiful South of France, Monaco, since January / 2015, no time off, with his new trainer, Adam Booth.
“This is going to be a very tough fight with Quillin, so I am working on correcting mistakes like those that caused me 2 defeats. You learn from mistakes and that is what I am working on because I want to be a champ for a long time.” stated Lee.
Lee further stated that he is very proud of the fact that he is the first Irish born fighter to win a world title since 1934.
The other fight which actually was the main event, was Danny Garcia, 29-0, 17 knockouts & W.B.A., W.B.C., & Ring Magazine Junior Welterweight-140 Pounds Champion fighting Lamont Peterson, 33-2-1-1, 17 k.o.’s & I.B.F. 140 Pound Champion. Unfortunately, and much to the disappointment of the fight fans they both agreed not to defend their titles, but “freeze” them and fight at a contracted “catch-weight” agreement of 143 pounds.
The match was still a great match because both Peterson and Garcia are the 2 greatest 140 pounders in the division, and it did not lose it’s glamour or excitement because it was a non-title fight. It was hard fought, bell to bell until the end.
Garcia defeated Peterson which was a “win-win” situation for him because he kept his “0”, and of course still kept his 3 titles.
For a defeated Peterson it was a “lose-lose” situation for him because he could’ve at the very least taken Garcia’s “0”, keep his title, although not winning Garcia’s 3 world crowns.
This catch-weight contract perhaps was agreed upon because both Garcia and Peterson had not fought since August 8, 2014, many months ago, and this was just a “keep-busy” fight or maybe a preliminary entry “test” fight into the 147 pound weight division.
Both fighters have indicated they were having problems staying at the 140 pound weight level, especially Danny Garcia. Vacating the140 pound weight level titles will now create a mad scramble of 140 pound contenders such as Lucas Matthysse who agreed Ruslan Provodnikov,in the future and then there are others like, Adrien Broner, Mike Alvarado, Brandon Rios, Chris Algieri, and even Manny Pacquiao.
Freddy Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer had stated that after the Mayweather fight May 2nd, he wanted Pacquiao to go down to 140 pounds, his best fighting weight, but now that he lost to Mayweather, and Floyd Matweather’s title was vacated by the Sanctioning bodies, Pacquiao may remain at 147 pounds to challenge Timothy Bradley who will then be named the current 147 pound champ.
Because of the star quality of the 4 fighters, Danny Garcia vs. Lamont Peterson, and Andy Lee vs. Peter Quillin, it was very difficult to make a prediction as to who would win. Both fights were what the betting community labelled, “pick-em” fights so we had to wait and see on that Saturday, April 11, 2015 at the Barclays Center which 2 of the 4 would have a better game plan and would be victorious.
We all know now that Garcia won a very close but unanimous decision over Peterson, and Kid Chocolate Quillin lost his opportunity to win back his 160 pound by fighting to a draw with Andy Lee. Lee of course kept his title.
