De La Hoya Says Golovkin Needs N’Dam N’Jikam Fight to Earn Quillin Shot

While WBO middleweight titlist Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin has already declared his willingness to face WBA champ Gennady Golovin in a unification bout, Quillin’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya feels Golovkin needs to first prove himself against vanquished Quillin opponent Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam.

N’Jikam, who’s last fight was against Quillin in October 2012, gave a spirited effort but was dropped six times by the hard-punching Quillin in route to losing a unanimous decision (115-107 on all cards). Despite the long layoff, De La Hoya feels N’Dam is a better matchup that anyone Golovkin has fought thus far, including his third-round KO of contender Matthew Macklin earlier this month.

“I wanna see Golovkin vs Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam and then ill see if he’s good or not,” De La Hoya tweeted. “My man Kid Chocolate will destroy any middleweight out there.”

At press time, Quillin’s camp has not named a future opponent. His last fight was a seventh round TKO of Fernando Guerrero on April 27.

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Oscar’s a good troll, I’ll give him that. It’s a no-brainer that Golovkin and Quillin should be unifying their belts — both are the consensus top guys in the division outside of Sergio Martinez. But, here we also have another case where boxing politics rears its ugly head. Golden Boy and its fighters are still barred from HBO, and Golovkin has been HBO’s pet project going back to last fall. So unless GGG is ready to spite the network that’s given him his biggest exposure, this bout won’t be happening anytime soon.

But what if it comes off next year? Golovkin has to be the heavy favorite. His excellence at cutting off the ring and surgical disposition of punches (especially on the inside), would really wear on Quillin, who needs space for his haymaker bombs. It’s interesting to note that while Golden Boy owns the 140-147 pound landscape, the 160-168 pound landscapes are firmly under HBO’s control. For the moment, that means HBO’s Golden Boy embargo is hurting Quillin more than most fighters on the roster.