Quillin can't keep Curtis off him and will fold late. Stevens has shown heart and determination in his last fights (last one was a British stoppage though). And there's a reason why Quillin fights the likes of Fernando "gift decision" Guerrero and Lucas Konecny.
50/50 fight. Stevens has holes, for sure - primarily with opponents who are either very close or very far. He is not good at chasing the likes of a Dirrel, and he obviously has problems with bulls like Johnson. But he is pretty good at mid and mid-long range. Its kind of a bad style match up for Quillin, who likes punching from mid range. Stevens like exchanging and countering at Quillin's favorite ranges. Both guys can bang. Hard fight to call , which is why I want to see it.
I think Stevens would stop Quillin. Quillin was hit pretty easily by a midget from the circus who was there to make Quillin look good , the midget was a small Jr. Welterweight...............
I favor Stevens to stop him in 10. Quillin couldn't keep feather fisted Konecy off him, how would be keep Stevens at bay...?
Stevens strength is not really pressure fighting though. I think the greatest danger he poses to Quillin, is Quillin having a tendency to lose focus and throw sloppy punches on occasion. His real weapon is that quick, hard left hook counter. In theory, Quillin should be able to work a long jab and circle left and avoid the left hook well enough and he also punches plenty hard at range to keep Stevens honest. But he doesnt have the natural sense of defense and range control that a GGG level guy has, so its not hard to see him getting drawn into bad exchanges , throwing an unleveraged/sloppy right and getting rattled by a "jook" over his glove right on his chin. Stevens needs to develop another killer punch, his limitation is his real money punches are his quick counter lefts. His other hits are hard, but he relies on that left counter to win fights. Any A+ level fighter is going to be able to shut down at least one thing that their opponent is known for. Just like Stevens did not land it on GGG, even though he did land some decent punches - if they fought 10 more times he would probably never land that signature left of his. I doubt he could land it on Geale, Sturm, Martinez, etc either. Thats Stevens limitation. If he does not land that shot, he is in trouble vs a tough and/or defensive guy. He relies too much on it. The question is whether Quillin could keep that punch shut down for 12 rounds. I dont think he can, which is why I favor Stevens slightly in the fight even though I think Quillin is more versatile. He has that tendency to sort of muddle through rounds 5-10 and flounder, and I think Stevens puts him on the canvas. But, its also possible that Quillin stays more focused in the future and plays timid when he needs to. Even if he loses some rounds, if he just manages to not get caught with that left he probably wont go down and wins the fight on points.
I would favour Quillin to take this simply because he has a better all round skill set. Having said that though you would have to give Stevens a pretty good punchers chance. He is certainly good enough to land a few shots on Quillin. Never really seen Kid chocolate eat shots heavy enough to make a call on how good his chin is. Reality is that Quillin will probably regard Stevens as a high risk low reward fight and likely has bigger fish to fry. Would really love to see Stevens vs Lemuiex. Very marketable fight IMO.
Curtis is clearly one of the most dangerous MW's out there, but he struggles with guys everytime he steps up. Brinkley, Findley, and Tuerreno were all fights he showed limitations in. If he doesn't land that big money punch, he gets UD'd.
Which one? Kid C is no way going to JMW - like JL'L he's oversized at 160. Stvens possibly could however, there was some discussion when he moved to 160 (and he started at LHW ffs) about a possible move to 154. Not sure it'd favour him though.
Lemieux - Stevens is one of those where you should be almost able to guarantee a first or second round KO ..... yet I can see the pair of 'em fighting to a dull UD cos neither wants to risk letting their hands go.
