by David P. Greisman
Daniel Jacobs knocked out Peter Quillin on Dec. 5. Andy Lee fights Billy Joe Saunders on Dec. 19. And Lou DiBella thinks a collision between Jacobs and Lee in 2016 would do well at the box office, especially if it’s timed around St. Patrick’s Day.
“I think it sells a lot of tickets. Andy can bang. It’d be an interesting fight. He factors in there with any of the top middleweights; he is a top middleweight,” said DiBella, who promotes Lee and was involved in putting on Al Haymon’s card featuring Lee vs. Quillin. DiBella is one of multiple promoters to be working with Haymon in such a capacity.
Jacobs vs. Quillin “was an excellent matchup on paper and it did good business,” DiBella said during the post-fight press conference at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. “What you have sometimes, you bring another market in — Danny and Peter share the same market. They’re both from the same area. … Andy Lee is able to bring in that big ticket-buying Irish audience. I think it would be a very big fight here.”
Of course, Lee needs to come out victorious first. DiBella said he expects Lee to win, though he acknowledges that it won’t be an easy fight with Saunders.
DiBella wasn’t certain that a Jacobs-Lee fight could land on St. Patrick’s Day weekend, given that the New York Islanders hockey team and Brooklyn Nets basketball team both play at the arena.
St. Patrick’s Day is Thursday, March 17. The Nets are scheduled to be away on a road trip on March 17 in Chicago and on Saturday, March 19, in Detroit, not returning for a home game until Tuesday, March 22.
The Islanders also will be away, playing in Pittsburgh on March 15, Nashville on March 17 and Dallas on March 19, not returning home until Monday, March 21.
However, the schedule for Barclays Center does show the arena in use on Friday, March 18, and Sunday, March 20, for the first and second rounds of the NCAA college basketball tournament.
Still, DiBella said a Jacobs-Lee fight, should it happen, could come off as early as mid-March through the end of April.
That all depends on what happens Dec. 19 in Manchester.
Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide . Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com


