By Rick Reeno
Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya fully supports the recent decision by Peter Quillin (31-0, 22KOs) to vacate the WBO middleweight title.
The WBO had ordered Quillin to face mandatory challenger Matt Korobov. A new player to the boxing scene, Roc Nation Sports, threw down $1.9 million, at the WBO's purse bid, to secure the promotional rights to Quillin-Korobov and planned to stage the fight on November 8th.
Last Thursday, Quillin announced his decision to vacate the WBO title. In doing so, he passed on the biggest payday of his career - $1.4 million dollars.
Even before Quillin made up his mind to drop the title, there were whispers that Quillin's manager, Al Haymon, was advising him to pass on the opportunity. Some believe Haymon was intentionally sabotaging the first planned event by Roc Nation Sports. Others believe Haymon wanted to avoid the possibility of a Top Rank fighter winning the title and bringing it back to HBO. There are also widespread rumors that Haymon promised Quillin a shot at the winner of the upcoming IBF title fight between champion Sam Soliman and challenger Jermain Taylor, who Haymon also manages.
According to De La Hoya, Quillin walked away from the fight to spend time with his wife and brand new baby. Quillin's wife had recently given birth and the boxer told De La Hoya that he didn't want to leave them to begin a long training camp.
Many fans and industry experts are still skeptical, because Roc Nation Sports and Top Rank were willing to accommodate Quillin by moving the fight to a later date.
De La Hoya denied reports that Haymon put the kibosh on the Quillin-Korobov encounter, stating that Quillin was the one who pulled the trigger on walking away.
"It was Peter Quillin's decision. It was a personal decision between Peter and his wife. It was a personal decision and I have to respect it as his promoter. I can't go against it, especially when he made the decision because of his baby, his wife - I respect that. Was that fight going to be an exciting fight where the world was going to watch - I don't know. The fact of the matter is, I have a relationship with Al - and we're on the same page in finally making these [type of] fights happen," De La Hoya said.