LOS ANGELES (April 26, 2011) – Unbeaten prospect Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (23-0, 17 KOs), breaks camp today (Tues) at Big Bear and arrives tomorrow in Reno for Friday night’s showdown against past world title challenger Jesse Brinkley (35-6, 22 KOs) in the 10 round main event, airing live on Telefutura, for the vacant USBO super middleweight championship.
Below find training camp notes and quotes from the 27-year-old Quillin, who was born in Chicago, raised in Grand Rapids (MI), and moved a year ago from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.
Training for Friday’s Fight
Quillin was back in Wild Card Gym three days after his last fight, a win by four-round TKO versus Dennis Sharpe on February 11. “I’m not champ yet, so there are no days off.” Qullin had training camp at Big Bear the past two weeks. In addition to training at Wild Card, prior to heading up to Big Bear, he spent two or three days a week for six weeks at his strength-and-conditioning coach Brad Bose’s Anatomi gym in Santa Monica, much of the time working out on The Vortex that “Kid Chocolate” described as a torture machine.
Big Bear
This is the first time in his pro career that Quillin has trained in high altitude, at Big Bear in the Summit High Altitude Training Center. “I came up here in good shape. Working at an elevated level is different. Great fighters have trained here like Oscar De La Hoya (his promoter). Shane Mosley and ‘Chop Chop’ Corley came by to say hello. That meant a lot to me. I’m very fortunate to be in this situation.
“I trained before in the Poconos (Mountains in Northeast Pennsylvania) but that’s nothing like up here. The Poconos are maybe 2500-3000 (feel above sea level) but it is 7000 here. I was always training there for four or six round fights but this is a 10-rounder.”
Sparring
Since being at Big Bear, Quillin has sparred five times for a total 39 rounds, the most 11 rounds in one day, with undefeated light heavyweight Sergey Kovalev (14-0, 12 KOs) and light middleweight Robert Garcia (29-2, 21 KOs). But he regularly sparred Monday, Wednesday and Fridays – 6 to 10 rounds each time – at Wild Card before heading to Big Bear. “Wild Card is packed with sparring partners – world champs, former world champs and up-and-comers. Before coming up here I sparred with guys like (Nobuhiro) Ishida and (Vanes) Martirosyan. Sergey and Robert have given me good sparring at Big Bear.”
1st Title Fight
“This is my first title fight but I’ve trained for a lot of my fights like they were title fights. It was that way for my fights against (Antwun) Echols, (Dionisio) Miranda and (Sam) Hill. Now, I have this great team that’s more capable of taking me where I’m going. I’ve elevated my skills working with all of these guys.”
Trainers
Quillin’s day-to-day trainer for this fight has been Eric Brown, who is Freddie Roach’s chief assistant. “They’ve put together a great game plan for this fight. I’m not going to tell the world what it is but everybody will see Friday night what I’m capable of doing in the ring.”
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Brown has been quite impressed by Quillin’s improvements: “I’ve been most impressed by his patience and ability. His overall game has really improved. When he first came to Wild Card, he was in decent shape but when he started working with his strength-and-conditioning coach it (improvements) was evident right away. He’s had world-class sparring at Wild Card. His first fight, in Canada, was okay but it was hard to tell how much he’d improved because he knocked out his opponent in the first round. His second fight was testimony to his conditioning. He was on another level. He’s worked hard in the gym and I’ve seen a vast improvement, especially in his strength.
“Jesse (Brinkley) has been around for a while since The Contender. He came to the Wild Card for sparring. He’s a tough kid with a big heart – a fighter! He does nothing in particular very well but he’s good with everything. He’s not at Peter’s level, though, mentally, physically or skill wise. Everybody will see that Friday.”
For more information about Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin go online to www.TheKidChocolate.com or follow him on Twitter @/Kid Chocolate.
Darchinyan-Perez Results – And a look ahead to this week’s installment of New Blood…
April 26, 2011 (Orange, CA) – This past Saturday, Thompson Boxing Promotions’ former IBF bantamweight champion Yonnhy “El Colombiano” Perez made a valiant attempt in the main event of SHOWTIME’s Bantamweight Tournament: “Winner Takes All” when he went toe-to-toe with the now two-division world champion Vic “Raging Bull” Darchinyan.
The highly disappointed Perez, who suffered an arterial bleed because of an accidental head butt, was unable to continue on in the 12-round competition when the referee called the fight due to the severity of the cut. Explained ringside physician Doctor Paul Wallace, “One of his blood vessels had been cut and it was dripping directly into his eye. He gave no indication he wanted to stop.”
Immediately following the stoppage, Perez offered, “I am disappointed that the fight ended this way. My head feels fine. I would have continued had the referee not called the fight.”
Perez continued, “Now I will head back to Colombia, relax and regroup and then decide the next move in my career.”
The Victorious Darchinyan commented, “He took big punches,” Darchinyan said afterward. “I wanted to knock him out, but he is still a great fighter. It was a headbutt.”
The fight will re-air tonight at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT on SHO EXTREME. The fight will also be available ON DEMAND beginning on Tuesday, April 26.
Opening the fight night, Flyweight Miguel Diaz (5-0, 3 KO’s) remained unbeaten with a four round unanimous decision over Alejandro Solorio. Diaz, who was hurt in the first round by a hard body shot by Solorio (4-4, 3 KO’s), steadily traded and dropped Solorio with a right hand on the third round. Solorio continued on to finish the fight where all three judges scored the bout 39-36 in favor of Diaz.
For more exciting fights, visit Thompson Boxing Promotions this Friday, April 29 when highly-regarded junior welterweight Mauricio “El Maestro” Herrera will try to extend his three fight winning streak as he battles veteran Cristian “Filoso” Favela in the main event of “New Blood” at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, California.
Also featured on this seven bout card will be Alberto “Baby Dynamite” Herrera, and unbeatens Abraham “Chamaco” Lopez and Jonathan “Lil’ Thund’r” Arellano.
Tickets for “NEW BLOOD” are priced at $75, $45, and $30. They are available now and may be purchased by calling 714-935-0900.
Andy Lee to Face Bunema at Rosemont Rumble
Irish middleweight contender Andy Lee’s opponent has been named for his Wednesday, May 18, main event at Hitz Boxing’s “Rosemont Rumble” at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois.
Lee (25-1, 19 KOs) will face tough veteran Alex “The Technician” Bunema (31-7-2, 17 KOs) in a 10-round battle for the NABF Middleweight Championship.
In his last fight, Lee scored a sensational come-from-behind tenth-round knockout against the previously unbeaten Craig McEwan on HBO. In his long and respectable career, Bunema has fought a long list of world-class opponents and beaten former world champions Roman Karmazin and Vince Phillips.
“It’s a real credit to Andy that he’s taking on such a tough guy when he could just coast and wait for his title shot,” said Hitz Boxing founder, Bobby Hitz. “There are not a lot of fighters left like Andy Lee.”
Tickets for the Rosemont Rumble are $100 ringside and $30 g/a AND ARE available through Ticketmaster, the Rosemont Theater Box Office or Fanfueled.com (search Hitz Boxing). Donald E. Stephens Convention Center is located at 5555 N. River Road. All opponents and ticket information will follow shortly. All bouts are subject to change.