Is Al Haymon attempting to block Peter Quillin from defending his WBO Middleweight Title?

By: Henry Martin


According to ESPN's Dan Rafael, Peter Quillin has still not signed his end of the deal for his mandatory defense against Matvey Korobov. Originally the contracts from both fighters were due on August 28th, but Quillin requested an extension, which was granted by the WBO, to take care of personal matters. With the due date fast approaching (Wednesday September 3rd) another extension was requested and granted. According to the WBO president, the second extension would only be a day and Quillin would risk losing his title if he didn't send in a signed contract by 4 P.M Thursday afternoon.

Peter @KIDCHOCOLATE Quillin must sign agreement to face Korobov by 4PM Thurs. or stands to be stripped of belt. @GoldenBoyBoxing @RocNation
— Paco Valcárcel, Esq. (@PacoValcarcel) September 3, 2014

Needles to say, neither Top Rank or Roc Nation were in favor of Quillin and his team prolonging the fight with the fight date steadily approaching and no promotional work being done.

Both @trboxing & @RocNation have objected to Quillin request to WBO for an extension to sign for the Korobov fight. No decision yet. #boxing
— Dan Rafael (@danrafaelespn) September 2, 2014

The proposed date for the mandatory defense was set to be November 1st. Coincidentally, it happened to be on the same date as a Showtime quadruple header that has been in the works for some time now. This is problematic because although Quillin doesn't have an exclusive contract with Showtime, he's an Al Haymon fighter. Al Haymon fighters almost exclusively fought on Showtime with the occasional Fox Sports 1 and ESPN dates. Edwin Rodriguez was the last Haymon fighter to have fought on HBO since the bitter breakup between the network and the adviser.

With a Showtime date already set for November 1st and with Roc Nation looking more and more likely they won't move the date, it looks as if Quillin's WBO reign may possibly be coming to an end. If Showtime can't and HBO won't, where does that leave us? ESPN is a possibility, but with the beginning of the College Football season, that seems like a long shot as well.

Over the past few hours, rumors have now sprung up that Quillin may be fighting WBA regular champion, Danny Jacobs, for his title instead. The WBA "regular" title.

Source says we might see a Peter Quillin-Danny Jacobs fight, rather than that Quillin/Korobov scrap
— Michael Woods (@Woodsy1069) September 3, 2014

Jacobs and his team were in discussions with Chudinov to possibly fight sometime in the fall, but if Quillin were to be stripped, then there is a good possibility that this overdue fight could happen. A potential Quillin vs Jacobs fight was targeted for February of this year, but instead both men went their separate ways. The only thing standing in the way of this possible fight is the possibility of the WBA ordering a fight between Chudinov, the interim champion, and Jacobs, the regular champion.

All eyes are on Quillin and Al Haymon to see what actions they take later on today. Do they sign the contract, going through with Roc Nation's first promotional show? Or does Quillin go past his deadline and stand to be stripped of his title? Whatever happens next, expect boxing fans to be critical of his choices, whether it be refusing to sign the dotted lines or taking two extensions to sign for the fight.

If Quillin does decide not to sign on for the fight, hopefully Al Haymon is looking out for his best interests as this is a career payday he may not see again. If he signs? Well, we have a great Middleweight championship fight in the works between Peter Quillin and former amateur star Matvey Korobov.