Yesterday Afternoon, WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin chose to vacate his title instead of defending it against mandatory challenger Matvey Korobov. While the reason is unknown, Quillin stated that he and his team would be looking for bigger and better things beyond the mandatory defense against Korobov.
I would like to thank the WBO for allowing me to grace the ring and live out my dream of... http://t.co/KOCz3JCBoz pic.twitter.com/NoYQ2X80TN
— Peter Quillin (@KIDCHOCOLATE) September 4, 2014
Now, while there is no clear reason as to why this happened, it is speculated that Quillin vacated his title at the behest of his adviser Al Haymon. While Quillin may have wanted to fight his mandatory challenger, everything changed when Jay Z's promotional company, Roc Nation, won the purse bid. Al Haymon and Jay Z have a shaky history together that stems from Al Haymon conspiring with Beyonce Knowles's father to defraud her.
If Al Haymon did indeed let his personal problems with Jay Z get in the way of looking out for his client's best interests, then that may not bode well for his other clients who may be up for purse bids in the future and are open for Roc Nation to bid on. Two such fighters who have purse bids coming up on September 12th are Deontay Wilder and Danny Garcia.
While Danny Garcia could stand to lose his belt, it isn't as big of a blow to him as it would be to Deontay Wilder. Danny Garcia is the recognized champion of the 140 pound division and he plans on moving up in weight soon. If he were to lose his WBC belt, he still has his WBA super belt to fall back on, should he decide to stay in the 140 pound division.
Wilder on the other hand has never won a title and he is the mandatory challenger for Bermane Stiverne's WBC belt. If the fight goes to purse bids and Roc Nation does indeed win again, it could place Stiverne in the same situation as Quillin and eventually cause Wilder to pull out of his mandatory fight.
That would be a shame if that did happen as Haymon shouldn't let his ego get in the way of doing what's best for his client. Like the purse bid for Quillin vs Korobov, we'll see how things unfold in the coming weeks.
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