By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – Peter Quillin didn’t predict a knockout Thursday.
If you read between the lines, though, that wasn’t all that necessary. When asked if he thinks his scheduled 12-round middleweight title fight against Daniel Jacobs will go the distance, the powerful Quillin implied it would be in Jacobs’ best interests to try to box Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
“It’s his choice,” Quillin said following a news conference in Manhattan. “I fought against a guy [Hassan N’Dam] who got up every time I knocked him down [six times]. He kept getting back up and I had to keep knocking him down, even two times in the 12th. It’s his choice. I get paid for 12 rounds. Once I get out of that ring, I’m looking for my check. You know what I’m saying? So for me, if he wanna make that choice for me to get my check real fast, then let’s do it.”
The 32-year-old Quillin (32-0-1, 23 KOs), of Grand Rapids, Michigan, has knocked out 70 percent of his opponents. The 28-year-old Jacobs’ knockout ratio is 87 percent (30-1, 27 KOs).
Showtime will televise the Jacobs-Quillin encounter as the main event of a doubleheader scheduled to start at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. The opening bout will match Argentina’s Jesus Cuellar (27-1, 21 KOs), the WBA featherweight champ, against Puerto Rico’s Jonathan Oquendo (26-4, 16 KOs) in a 12-rounder.
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
