Quillin: If Anything Happens To Al Haymon - I'll Retire!

By TMZ Sports

Former WBO middleweight champion Peter "Kid Chocolate" Quillin says Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum is spewing lies about him in Top Rank's $100 million lawsuit against manager/adviser Al Haymon -- with Quillin saying Haymon is not the monster Arum is making him out to be.

As we previously reported, Top Rank is suing Haymon -- claiming Al is "rigging" the sport to monopolize the industry.

In his suit, Arum claims Haymon cajoled Quillin into not taking a huge bout in 2014 with Matt Korobov (which would have been his biggest payday) in a diabolical scheme to freeze out Jay Z's promotions company Roc Nation Sports, which had already won the rights to promote the fight.

But Quillin says that's just not true ... telling TMZ Sports, "I had just had a baby and my uncle was dying of cancer and I wasn't in the right state of mind to fight."

"Al Haymon asked me if I wanted to fight and told me it was up to me. I made the decision to not fight."

Quillin says Haymon has been nothing short of a mentor and a friend -- adding, "If anything was to happen to Al Haymon, I would retire from the sport of boxing."