By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten WBO Middleweight Champion Peter Quillin of Chicago, Illinois will attempt to successfully defend his title for the third time this Saturday, April 19 when he takes on challenger Lukas Konecny of the Czech Republic at the DC Armory in Washington, D.C. The 12-round title fight will be broadcast by the Showtime network in the U.S. and it can be seen in Canada on Super Channel.
The 30-year-old Quillin enters the bout with a perfect record of 30-0 with 22 Kos and he’s shown a lot of power in those fights. In fact, he’s scored a total of 12 knockdowns in his last four outings. He won the title back in October of 2012 by beating Hassan N’Dam and half of his dozen knockdowns came in that bout, but he went the distance and won the fight by a wide unanimous decision. Quillin said he can’t wait to get back in the ring again to defend his crown and admitted the 35-year-old Konecny has a lot of experience and is a legitimate challenger, but he’s going to be looking to stop him.
If Quillin does manage to stop the veteran challenger he’ll be the first man to do so as a pro. Konecny isn’t very well known at all to North American boxing fans, but he has put together a fine record over the years of 50-4 with 23 Kos. He’s won two in a row since dropping a unanimous decision to Zaurbek Baysangurov back in 2012. Konecny has fought most of his bouts in his homeland, but said his experience will be a big factor on Saturday night.
Konecny stated, “This is my first fight in the U.S. and I don’t plan on going home without that belt. Every fighter dreams of fighting for and winning a world championship, and I am thankful for the chance to do that against Peter Quillin.”
Quillin’s previous two title defences came last year against Fernando Guerrero and Gabriel Rosado. He managed to stop Guerrero in the seventh round and stopped Gabriel Rosado in the 10th. Konecny has had two previous shots at a world title and came out on the losing end both times. He fought for the Czech Republic in the 2000 Olympic Summer Games and is also a former European junior middleweight champion. He was beaten by Sergey Dzinziruk via a majority decision for the junior middleweight title in 2008 and then dropped a unanimous decision to titleholder Baysangurov two years ago.
Konecny may have the edge when it comes to experience, but Quillin has the advantage in just about every other department. The champion’s five years younger and has a three-inch advantage in both height at 5-foot-11 and in reach at 73 inches. He’s also got more power than the challenger. Look for Quillin to eventually wear Konecny down and keep his title via a late stoppage or unanimous decision.
