JACOBS VS. QUILLIN IS OFFICIAL IN THE BATTLE OF BROOKLYN
By ESPN.com
After more than a year of anticipation, middleweight titlist Daniel Jacobs and former titleholder “Kid Chocolate” Peter Quillin, friendly rivals, will finally meet in a battle for a belt and Brooklyn bragging rights.
They will square off for Jacobs’ secondary 160-pound title on Dec. 5 (Showtime) at the Barclays Center in their hometown of Brooklyn, New York.
The fight was contingent upon Quillin taking care of business in his tuneup fight at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut, on Saturday, which he did with ease. He scored a brutal fifth-round stoppage of Australia’s little-known Michael Zerafa, who was knocked out cold, removed from the ring on a stretcher and sent to the hospital for precautionary reasons.
Jacobs was ringside for the fight, and he and Quillin both spoke about their long-awaited showdown during the NBC-televised Premier Boxing Champions card.
“What’s important is that I’m ready for Danny Jacobs,” Quillin said after the knockout. “Now it’s time for Brooklyn to see me and Danny Jacobs. We’ve waited for a long time for it. I like Danny because I’m a big fan of his. But business is business, unfortunately.”
At that point, an emotional Quillin looked out to ringside and began talking to Jacobs, who was listening to the interview with a headset on.
“We can do it right here if you want to take off that suit and put on those gloves,” Quillin said.
“Let’s do it right now.”
Promoter Lou DiBella, who promoted the Quillin-Zerafa card and will also promote the Jacobs-Quillin show, told ESPN.com that he has the Barclays Center on hold for Dec. 5 and is finalizing the deal with the arena. Al Haymon, the manager for both Jacobs and Quillin, is getting their contracts finalized.
“But the fight is going to happen. It will get done and it will be a big fight,” DiBella said. “There are a lot of people who have wanted to see this fight for a long time, and it’s going to be a good one.”
Showtime confirmed that it plans to put on Jacobs-Quillin on Dec. 5.
On April 11, Quillin (32-0-1, 23 KOs) fought to a draw with world titleholder Andy Lee, but even if Quillin had won he was not eligible to win the belt because he failed to make weight. The fight with Zerafa was contracted at 163 pounds, and Quillin surprised many by weighing in at 160 pounds, proving that he can indeed make the division weight limit.
“I’m back in camp on Monday. I’m getting ready for Danny Jacobs,” Quillin said. “Right now he’s the champ, I’m the challenger. I like to be in that position. It motivates me. I fight for all the kids who were told they wouldn’t make it.”
Jacobs, smiling throughout his and Quillin’s interview, said he is looking forward to a showdown with Quillin.
“I’m from Brownsville in Brooklyn. I never ran and I never will,” Jacobs said. “Dec. 5 at Barclays Center. I’m the champion and he’s the challenger. I don’t know how it’s going to go down, but it’s going to be a great fight.”
Jacobs, 28, and Quillin, 32, have known each other for years and have been friendly, but Jacobs said he was never too friendly.
“In the sport of boxing, you can’t make too many friends because you might wind up fighting one of these guys,” Jacobs said. “It will be one of the biggest fights that Brooklyn has had in a long time. I’m a mover, I’m a power puncher, and I have a high boxing IQ. He has trouble with guys that move, and I can think on the fly.
“This [fight] is all the motivation I needed. What other motivation do you need to get your butt in the gym and get prepared? They call me the ‘Miracle Man.’ It’s no secret that I have motivation to be the best I can be. Come Dec. 5, Brooklyn is going to have a new star.”
Quillin won a belt by scoring six knockdowns and winning a unanimous decision against Hassan N’Dam in October 2012, and defended the title three times. Then Quillin vacated the belt last summer rather than face mandatory challenger Matt Korobov for a career-high purse of $1.4 million.
Quillin said the reason he declined the fight and took a year off is because his wife had just had their son and also because his uncle, who was a father figure to him, was dying of cancer and he wanted to spend time with him. Quillin returned for the fight with Lee, who had knocked out Korobov to win the vacant title in December.
Jacobs (30-1, 27 KOs), who survived a battle with cancer that nearly killed him, was able to return to boxing in late 2012. He knocked out Jarrod Fletcher in the fifth round 13 months ago to win a vacant secondary title. Gennady Golovkin is the top titleholder.
Jacobs has defended the belt twice, by 12th-round knockout of Caleb Truax in April and by second-round knockout of former junior middleweight titlist Sergio Mora on Aug. 1.
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