http://www.mlive.com/boxing/index.ssf/2015/05/peter_quillin_opens_up_about_d.html
LAS VEGAS — Peter Quillin stood inside his fourth-floor suite at the MGM Grand Hotel May 2 with a secure calmness.
Members of his team swarmed about him, preparing themselves for the biggest night boxing had ever seen while the former middleweight champion attended to his own wardrobe.
Quillin looked down, his handsomely manicured fingernails blending perfectly with the pearlized buttons as he slid them into the slits of his designer shirt.
An independent filmmaker recorded it all for what is slated to be a Netflix original documentary on the fighter's life.
The Grand Rapids native is used to the attention.
Plenty of it rained down upon Quillin in the weeks following his much-maligned draw versus Ireland's Andy Lee on April 11.
The fight started with a bang as Quillin (31-0-1, 22 KOs) dropped Lee to the canvas with a vicious right hook in the first round. Lee (34-2-1, 24 KOs) returned the favor with the same punch to Quillin in the seventh round, which garnered the same result.
It was the first time Quillin had been dropped in his boxing career.
Quillin's punch output plummeted after that shot, which he said hurt his chances of taking the win in a fight he was leading until that point.
The heavy-handed fighter admitted to being hesitant in the championship rounds and that it limited his attack.
Two hours before Floyd Mayweather performed a counter-punching clinic on Manny Pacquiao, Quillin spoke openly for the first time about what went wrong in his fight.
"I felt like my tooth was loose," Quillin said, leaning forward in a hushed tone.
"I've got a bridge and I felt like it was loose. That was always my worry with getting my teeth done that it would happen in a fight. This is the first I've ever spoken of it."
Quillin made his name early in his career as a cement-fisted closer, often flashing his broad smile, one tooth missing, while his opponent lay sprawled out before him.
Over the past few years, he's made moves to get the hole fixed with a bridge and other dental work.
"In the beginning of my career, I had a missing tooth and I kind of made it work for my character. Then I went to go get the work done but it wasn't work that I was happy with," he said.
After the seventh round, Quillin pulled trainer Eric Brown in close and whispered something that was inaudible to the television camera. Brown responded, telling Quillin not to worry about it.
"I whispered to him, I said, 'Don't take my mouthpiece out,'" Quillin disclosed. "I was worried my teeth would fall out."
That self-confessed insecurity influenced the final five rounds of the bout, making him wary of engaging in further exchanges with the powerful Lee.
Add that drop in activity with Quillin's failed attempt to make weight the previous day, which negated a chance to win back his WBO belt, and the feeding frenzy began.
Fans and media alike took to social media to question Quillin's desire, focus and talent.
"The negative stuff? I don't focus on it," Quillin said confidently.
"The fight happened the way it happened as far as getting a draw. The hardest thing to do when it comes to something like that is to accept that it happened. I think that's what allowed me to keep myself together."
As for the weight issue, it won't play a role in future fights, Quillin said.
"I took a year off (when son Joaquin was born and uncle got sick) and I got heavy. It didn't come off as easy as it usually did," he said. "I was damn-near up to cruiserweight. I'm 31 years old, it's harder to get the weight off."
Quillin said he's now focused on taking care of the dental issues that held him back and said he had a root canal on May 1.
"I've been back and forth to the dentist and it's been torture for me," he said. "They're sticking needles in my mouth, I've almost got a phobia going to the dentist now. The dentist told me, 'Man, it sounds like you're being tortured.'
"You know what happened to me? I started crying because I have been ... it's been rough. I keep thinking to myself how I never want to use anything as an excuse why I would fail at something."
Quillin remains confident his dental issues won't keep him from his fight schedule and hopes to remain active throughout the remainder of the year.
"If it comes to it, I'm willing to get all these removed and fight with no teeth if I have to," he said. "I hope it doesn't come to that, but I'm willing to do what I have to do to be in that ring.
"It's my job."
LAS VEGAS — Peter Quillin stood inside his fourth-floor suite at the MGM Grand Hotel May 2 with a secure calmness.
Members of his team swarmed about him, preparing themselves for the biggest night boxing had ever seen while the former middleweight champion attended to his own wardrobe.
Quillin looked down, his handsomely manicured fingernails blending perfectly with the pearlized buttons as he slid them into the slits of his designer shirt.
An independent filmmaker recorded it all for what is slated to be a Netflix original documentary on the fighter's life.
The Grand Rapids native is used to the attention.
Plenty of it rained down upon Quillin in the weeks following his much-maligned draw versus Ireland's Andy Lee on April 11.
The fight started with a bang as Quillin (31-0-1, 22 KOs) dropped Lee to the canvas with a vicious right hook in the first round. Lee (34-2-1, 24 KOs) returned the favor with the same punch to Quillin in the seventh round, which garnered the same result.
It was the first time Quillin had been dropped in his boxing career.
Quillin's punch output plummeted after that shot, which he said hurt his chances of taking the win in a fight he was leading until that point.
The heavy-handed fighter admitted to being hesitant in the championship rounds and that it limited his attack.
Two hours before Floyd Mayweather performed a counter-punching clinic on Manny Pacquiao, Quillin spoke openly for the first time about what went wrong in his fight.
"I felt like my tooth was loose," Quillin said, leaning forward in a hushed tone.
"I've got a bridge and I felt like it was loose. That was always my worry with getting my teeth done that it would happen in a fight. This is the first I've ever spoken of it."
Quillin made his name early in his career as a cement-fisted closer, often flashing his broad smile, one tooth missing, while his opponent lay sprawled out before him.
Over the past few years, he's made moves to get the hole fixed with a bridge and other dental work.
"In the beginning of my career, I had a missing tooth and I kind of made it work for my character. Then I went to go get the work done but it wasn't work that I was happy with," he said.
After the seventh round, Quillin pulled trainer Eric Brown in close and whispered something that was inaudible to the television camera. Brown responded, telling Quillin not to worry about it.
"I whispered to him, I said, 'Don't take my mouthpiece out,'" Quillin disclosed. "I was worried my teeth would fall out."
That self-confessed insecurity influenced the final five rounds of the bout, making him wary of engaging in further exchanges with the powerful Lee.
Add that drop in activity with Quillin's failed attempt to make weight the previous day, which negated a chance to win back his WBO belt, and the feeding frenzy began.
Fans and media alike took to social media to question Quillin's desire, focus and talent.
"The negative stuff? I don't focus on it," Quillin said confidently.
"The fight happened the way it happened as far as getting a draw. The hardest thing to do when it comes to something like that is to accept that it happened. I think that's what allowed me to keep myself together."
As for the weight issue, it won't play a role in future fights, Quillin said.
"I took a year off (when son Joaquin was born and uncle got sick) and I got heavy. It didn't come off as easy as it usually did," he said. "I was damn-near up to cruiserweight. I'm 31 years old, it's harder to get the weight off."
Quillin said he's now focused on taking care of the dental issues that held him back and said he had a root canal on May 1.
"I've been back and forth to the dentist and it's been torture for me," he said. "They're sticking needles in my mouth, I've almost got a phobia going to the dentist now. The dentist told me, 'Man, it sounds like you're being tortured.'
"You know what happened to me? I started crying because I have been ... it's been rough. I keep thinking to myself how I never want to use anything as an excuse why I would fail at something."
Quillin remains confident his dental issues won't keep him from his fight schedule and hopes to remain active throughout the remainder of the year.
"If it comes to it, I'm willing to get all these removed and fight with no teeth if I have to," he said. "I hope it doesn't come to that, but I'm willing to do what I have to do to be in that ring.
"It's my job."
well, spinal ."