By Ian S Palmer
One of boxing’s forgotten men returns to the ring again this Saturday, August 4th as former world champion Peter Quillin takes on J’Leon Love at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. The 10-round super middleweight bout can be seen live in North America on Fox. Fox Sports 2 and Fox Deportes. Quillin’s last fight took place in September when he beat Dashon Johnson by an eight-round unanimous decision and that was his first bout in two years. Love was last in the ring in May when he took a 10-round unanimous decision over Jaime Barboza.
Quillin, who was born in Chicago but fights out of Brooklyn, is now 35 years old and enters the contest with an impressive record of 33-1-1 along with 23 Kos. His lone loss was a first-round stoppage at the hands of Danny Jacobs in a shot at Jacobs’ WBA Middleweight Title in December of 2015. Quillin is 6-feet-1-inch tall with a 71.5-inch wingspan and he’s fought 174 rounds since turning pro in 2005. Quillin beat Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam by unanimous decision in 2012 to win the WBO middleweight title in October, 2012 and dropped him six times along the way.
He defended the crown three times against Fernando Guerrero, Gabriel Rosado and Lukas Konecny before vacating the belt in September, 2014. He’s also beaten Jesse Brinkley, Winky Wright, Craig McEwan, Fernando Zuniga, Antwun Echols and Troy Lowry while his 12-round draw came against Ireland’s Andy Lee back in April of 2015. He was decked for the first time in his career against Lee, but got back up and showed he has a lot of heart, but couldn’t handle Jacobs’ first-round onslaught. Quillin has good power of his own with a current knockout ratio of 66 per cent.
Quillin has been involved in several exciting fights and has shown he has enough power to drop just about anyone. However, he’s not hard to find in the ring and this can be troublesome when you own a questionable chin. Quillin isn’t the most mobile guy in the ring and usually adopts a more flat-footed stance while throwing his power shots. It’s hard to say just how much Quillin has left in the tank now at his age and after being inactive with just one fight in close to three years.
The 30-year-old J’Leon Love hails from Detroit and fights out of Las Vegas. He’s also been beaten just once in his career with a record of 24-1-1 with 13 Kos. His lone defeat was a third-round knockout at the hands of Rogelio Medina in August of 2014. A few months before that fight, Love took on Marco Antonio Periban and was dropped in the sixth round before taking a unanimous decision, so his chin may also be considered somewhat questionable. Love is 6-feet tall with a 75.5-inch reach so gives up an inch in height, but has a four-inch reach advantage.
He turned pro back in 2010 and has fought 156 rounds since then with a current knockout ratio of 48 per cent. He’s faced the likes of Derrick Findley and Gabriel Rosado. In fact, Love was decked in the sixth round against Rosado in May of 2013 and was originally awarded with a split decision victory after 10 rounds. However, that was overturned when he tested positive for a banned diuretic after the contest. His lone draw was an eight-round technical affair against Abraham Han last September.
Prediction…
Love is a solid pro, but he isn’t regarded as a consistent top contender. He doesn’t hit as hard as Quillin and will need to use his edge in reach to stay out of range. Quillin’s fought the tougher opponents over the years, but he’s five years older and hasn’t been very active lately. Still, I’ll give Quillin a slight edge here and expect him to win the fight.
