Hearn: I'd Work With Warren to Make Saunders-Jacobs Title Fight

By Keith Idec

UNIONDALE, New York – If Billy Joe Saunders defeats David Lemieux, Daniel Jacobs’ title shot could depend upon his new promoter’s ability to work with his bitter British rival.

Eddie Hearn, Jacobs’ promoter, at least seemed open to the idea of doing business with Frank Warren, Saunders’ promoter, early Sunday morning when discussing Jacobs’ immediate future. Jacobs will travel to Canada to sit ringside to watch Saunders (25-0, 12 KOs) defend his WBO middleweight title against Montreal’s Lemieux (38-3, 33 KOs) in a bout HBO will televise December 16 from Laval, Quebec.

The former WBA middleweight title-holder hopes to face the Saunders-Lemieux winner in his next fight. Jacobs (33-2, 29 KOs) and Hearn discussed an April return at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center following his one-sided, unanimous-decision victory over Milwaukee’s Luis Arias (18-1, 9 KOs) on Saturday night at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Hearn thinks England’s Saunders would travel to Brooklyn to box Jacobs in his hometown if he is able to get past the hard-hitting Lemieux next month.

“I haven’t got the best relationship [with Warren], but I’d still work with Frank Warren, no problem,” Hearn said. “But I think Saunders has shown his willingness to travel. I don’t know how long he’s got left on his contract with Warren, but he’s willing to go to Canada, so I don’t see why he wouldn’t be willing to come to New York for a payday. I know Billy Joe Saunders very well. I talk to him often. He’s a little bit crazy, but he likes what we say in Britain, he likes a pound note, which means he likes a dollar.

“So again, Billy’s a very good fighter and he’s world champion. But I still don’t perceive him to be like Daniel Jacobs. But he has a belt and all this building the brand, all this sort of stuff, we’re still in it for the glory. We’re still in it for the belts. As much as Danny wants to be a star and listen to me talk here, building him up, he wants a belt around his waist. So that’s the end goal. But we’re only in the short-term now.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.