On Monday, Roc Nation Sports won the purse bid for November 8th matchup between WBO middleweight Peter Quillin (31-0, 22 KOs) and his mandatory challenger Matt Korobov (24-0, 14 KOs). Roc Nation was founded by rapper Jay-Z. They out-bid Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank with a monstrous bid of $1,904,840.
Golden Boy came in second with a bid of $1,207,000. Top Rank was a distant third at $515,000. The bid that Roc Nation put in for the Quillin vs. Korobov fight was obviously a very high one because it’s not a fight that promises a lot of interest from boxing fans.
Quillin still hasn’t proven himself to be a huge draw, and Korobov is a virtual unknown with casual boxing fans in the U.S.
As far as the venue for the Quillin vs. Korobov fight goes, they’re looking at New York City or Washington, D.C.
Roc Nation Sports recently added former Golden Boy Promotions COO David Itskowitch to their team, and it was he that put in the winning bid of $1,904, 840 to get the Quillin-Korobov fight. Did he overestimate the amount of interest there would be for a Quillin vs. Korovbov fight? That’s the big question.
Quillin vs. Gennady Golovkin is a fight that you could see having a bid like the $1.9M that Roc Nation put down for the Quillin-Korobov fight, because it’s a fight that boxing fans really want to see. But as far as the Quillin vs. Korobov fight goes, there’s not a ton of interest in that fight due to Korobov still being a fairly obscure fighter with casual fans.
“I don’t think or believe that Gennady Golovkin has come close to being offered nothing like that,” Quillin bragged to RingTV.com, about the bid made by Roc Nation. Golovkin is considered to be the far better fighter than Quillin by many boxing fans, and it’s hard to argue with that belief.
Quillin hasn’t been tested yet since he won the WBO 160 pound title in 2012 in beating Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam. Quillin has defended his WBO title three times in beating Fernando Guerrero, Gabriel Rosado and Lukas Konecny. Boxing fans want to see Quillin fight Golovkin, but that fight likely will never happen because it doesn’t seem like Quillin’s adviser Al Haymon or his promoters at Golden Boy are in a hurry to make a Quillin-Golovkin fight.
It’s understandable. If sports companies are willing to make high bids for Quillin’s fights against the likes of Korobov, so why should Haymon and Golden Boy put Quillin in with someone who will likely knock him out within 3 rounds like Golovkin. Quillin is a money machine right now. Of course, he’s not a big money maker, but he’s making money nonetheless.
