In an interview with FightHype, former middleweight strap holder Peter Quillin compared a potential fight between himself and Gennady Golovkin to the superfight coming in May between Floyd and Pacquiao. What I take away from this is the fact that it would be two of the top guys in one weight class going into a hyped up bout and generating a lot of money at the same time. The comparisons pretty much end there because the past accomplishments of those guys to these middleweights cannot be compared and the scale of the fight certainly cannot either.
The size of the Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight really is a unique situation in boxing. These guys would make more news just with a hint that they might be fighting than other guys would by winning world titles. When the fight was officially announced it really shook up the boxing world and there is no other potential bouts out there which could have the same effect.
It is not impossible to envision a situation where Gennady Golovkin is involved in a fight which would unify titles and crown a new pound four pound king. After all several of the top names in boxing are set to retire in the next few years and Gennady is racing up the list faster than anyone else. He seems to really be in his prime right now and the list of potential opponents from 160-168 could really define a fantastic career. Quillin could also be a guy in this situation, even in this fight with Golovkin.
Quillin has a lot going for him. He is undefeated in 31 contests and doesn’t even have a draw to blemish that record. He has a lot of stoppages. He will be involved in his fifth title fight when he takes on Andy Lee in April and he has a lot of power in terms of his promotion and management. What is questionable about him really is his talent level. He is unquestionably a great talent. The fact that he has accomplished what he has already done proves how good he is, but can we really compare him to a Golovkin, let alone a Mayweather or Pacquiao? Will he ever be as good as those guys? I do not know. In his last fight with Lukas Konecny he was dominant, but ended up going the distance with a guy I think Golovkin would have stopped early. In his outing before that he took on Gabriel Rosado, this is a guy who now has 9 losses in his 31 fight career, but in that fight Rosado was coming back from an early knockdown and a cut and looked as though he could take that fight back before it was untimely stopped due to the cut.
In the next few years we can expect some great fights from the Quillin side, starting with a challenge for Andy Lee’s WBO middleweight title in April. If he nabs this one he will be 5-0 in world title affairs, but with Golovkin decimating the majority of top fighters at middleweight, he may be left short of legitimate title contenders before long.