By Edward Chaykovsky

Former WBO middleweight world champion Peter 'Kid Chocolate' Quillin (32-1-1, 23KOs) is ready to begin the road back.

The New Yorker has been inactive since getting stopped in one round last December at the hands of hometown rival Daniel Jacobs.

Last year was not kind to Quillin. He failed to make weight for his May fight with Andy Lee, and because of that he was unable to challenge Lee for the WBO title. They dropped each other in the contest and it ended in a twelve round split draw. Then came a quick knockout win over Michael Zerafa in September and then the loss to Jacobs.

Quillin was not happy about his performances against Lee and Jacobs. He has parted ways with longtime trainer Eric Brown and hired well known coach Virgil Hunter of the Bay Area in California.

Hunter is best known for training former super middleweight king and unbeaten light heavyweight Andre Ward, and he also trains former world champions Amir Khan and Andre Berto.

“I’ve watched both of those fights twice,” Quillin told Premier Boxing Champions. “There was no head movement or footwork. I went out straight at Jacobs with the intensity of trying to knock him out, [and didn’t] jab. I was thinking like a puncher instead of the athletic boxer I can be. I was high on my power, so my boxing ability was lacking against Lee and Jacobs.”

“Before coming here [to work with Hunter], I respectfully called Eric Brown. We had a father-son relationship, but he's a respectful man and was cool with it. Virgil just teaches on a different level, [and motivates with] certain sayings or Bible scriptures.”

Hunter is attempting to fix some of the defensive and stylistic mistakes in Quillin's current makeup.

“Peter Quillin is a tremendous puncher with an upside that I can help him to achieve,” Hunter says. “Of course there are mistakes made when you get knocked out as early as he did by Danny Jacobs, not taking his time, feeling him out, and that’s what I said to Peter about his aggression in the first round.”

Quillin is also getting some advice from Ward, who is preparing for a November 19th clash with WBO/IBF/WBA light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev.

“Andre is a class act, champion and role model,” Quillin says. “There’s a general structure with Andre that drives the atmosphere [in the gym]. We’ve talked about how I can conduct myself moving forward.”