Golovkin's Promoter on Quillin Getting Shot at Lee's Belt

By Bill "Two Scoops" Emes

BoxingScene.com first reported on Thursday that a deal was completed for a fight between WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee (34-2, 24KOs) and undefeated top contender Peter Quillin (31-0, 22KOs). The fight is likely going to take place on April 11th, as part of Al Haymon's 'Premier Boxing Champions' broadcast on NBC.

Quillin held the belt and made three successful defenses. He was then ordered to face Matt Korobov in a mandatory fight. He vacated the title to take care of some personal matters. Lee and Korobov were then ordered to fight for the vacant WBO crown - and last December in Las Vegas, Lee captured the title with a sixth round stoppage of Korobov.

For the better part of his championship reign, Quillin was targeted by WBA/IBO/WBC-interim middleweight champion Gennady "GGG" Golovkin. Because Golovkin is focused on unifying the middleweight division, he lost interest when Quillin dropped his belt.

But now if Quillin regains the title, a fight with Golovkin is once again a hot topic - according to Golovkin's promoter Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions.

"A unification fight, whether it's against Andy Lee or Peter Quillin or Miguel Cotto - those are all big fights. I have a lot of respect for Quillin. We're friendly with him. I think he took a big step backwards when he actually vacated the title. My understanding was, there were some personal issues there as well. He's getting a chance to fight for that title again.  If he becomes champion again, it definitely becomes a compelling fight - and that's really the priority for Gennady, to focus on unification fights," Loeffler told BoxingScene.com.