By Ryan Maquiñana

Peter Quillin made the third defense of his middleweight world title belt in dominant fashion Saturday night in a near-shutout of Lucas Konecny, but the unbeaten Cuban-American is cognizant that the bigger fights are over the horizon.

After the win, Quillin (31-0, 22 KOs) told Showtime’s Jim Gray that he continues to eye the fellow marquee names in the 160-pound division. When the 30-year-old was asked if he was on the level with fellow titleholders Gennady Golovkin and Sergio Martinez.

“Yes,” Quillin said. “With Al Haymon in my corner of course I do. Any one of those guys, I’m ready. I’m fit. I sparred Golovkin many rounds and he’s a good champion, but like I said, I definitely didn’t come up here for easy fights. That’s the only career-defining fight that’s out there.

“Sergio Martinez, the winner of (Miguel) Cotto, I would like you. The winner out of (Julio Cesar) Chavez (Jr.) versus Golovkin, I would like to take that fight. Like I said, we’re just trying to get better.”

However, with the “Cold War” in place, Quillin might have to settle for Daniel Jacobs (27-1, 24 KOs) first.

“If Danny Jacobs is on the menu, let’s do it,” Quillin said. “As long as Al Haymon can give me the money I deserve, let’s do it.”

In the meantime, Quillin is looking forward to his first child with his wife, Allison, who is pregnant. The couple endured a tragedy when she miscarried five months into her first pregnancy when Quillin was training for his last title defense.

“Well I have to say, being a father is something I always look forward to,” Quillin said. “My wife is definitely a special woman. I believe in her. She believes in me. She brings structure to my life and I only expect us to have the beautifulest baby God can give us.”

Ryan Maquiñana was the boxing producer for NBCOlympics.com during London 2012 and writes a boxing column for CSNBayArea.com. He is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and Ring Magazine's Ratings Panel. E-mail him at rmaquinana@gmail.com, check out his blog at Norcalboxing.com or follow him on Twitter@RMaq28.