#1 IBF Matt Korobov (24-0, 14 KOs) has reportedly inked part of the contract for a title shot against WBO 160 pound champ Peter Quillin (31-0, 22 KOs), according to RingTV. Korobov, 31, signed the contract last Friday.
Korobov is now waiting for the 31-year-old Quillin to sign his part of the contract so the fight can move ahead. The target date for the fight is on November 1st at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Korobov has his flaws in terms of his stamina, but he’s arguably a lot better than the guys that Quillin has been feasting on since he won the WBO title against Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam by beating him by a 12 round decision. Since then, Quillin has been a disappointment to some boxing fans for his choice of opposition.
Rather than fight Gennady Golovkin, Quillin has been matched up against the likes of Fernando Guerrero, Gabriel Rosado and Lukas Konecny. The Korobov fight presents a fairly big step up for Quillin, despite Korobov having stamina issues that limits his effectiveness.
If Quillin can get past Korobov, which is no certainty given how Quillin had his bell rung by Rosado, then we could see Quillin face newly crowned WBA strap holder Daniel Jacobs in 2015 in a unification fight. In my estimation, neither Quillin nor Jacobs are anywhere close to being as good as Golovkin, but they’re decent contender type fighters.
They hold titles, but I see them as more of contenders rather than legit champions. With boxing having numerous world title belts available in each division, you get to see guys like Jacobs and Quillin holding titles without them having to face the guy that many boxing fans see as being by far the best fighter in the division in Golovkin.
Korobov defeated previously unbeaten Jose Uzcategui by a dull 12 round decision last June. The fight would have been a super easy one for Korobov if he had the stamina to fight hard for more than 30 seconds of every round. He looked gassed after fighting hard for around 30 seconds to 1 minute of each round.
Korobov was lucky that Uzcategui didn’t have the skills to push the fight to him, because I feel that Korobov would have lost if he had to fight hard. But with that said, Korobov has the power and the technical skills to give a guy like Quillin fits if he can land his power shots early before he totally fades.
