Danny Garcia vs Zab Judah finalized for January 19 on Showtime, Barclays Center not a guarantee

Richard Schaefer tells BoxingScene.com that as expected, Danny Garcia's next fight will be against Zab Judah on January 19, live on Showtime. But there is a wrinkle: The Barclays Center in Brooklyn, thought to be guaranteed for this fight, is being "held," but certainly isn't booked yet.

"We are finalizing everything. I am holding the Barclays Center. I think anywhere [that fight] will be in the Tri-state area, it will do big numbers, but obviously my first choice is Barclays."

This show may well end up at the Barclays Center, and GBP has an exclusive deal to run boxing at the venue, but the harsh reality is that the first show there did OK, but definitely didn't do great numbers, and another harsh reality is that Zab Judah is unlikely to bring in all that many fans. He's popular, but his last fight in Brooklyn in March of this year (his win over Vernon Paris) was held in a very small venue. Being popular and convincing people to pay to see you fight are two different things. And Garcia didn't appear to bring that big a crowd up from Philly, either.

To be clear, I'm not blaming the fighters or the promoters -- I'm not even playing a blame game here. But the Barclays Center is a big venue, and Golden Boy struggles to actually sell tickets to their shows, whether there or in California or Nevada or Texas or wherever. They are on a long run of giving away a lot o the seats you see filled on TV when you watch Golden Boy cards.

Garcia is still becoming a name. Judah has a name, but he's past his prime and everyone knows it. Do people want to pay money to see him most likely lose to a top fighter, which has been his standard for years now? You can't force them in there, and giving away tickets might not work in New York quite so "well" as it does in California.

If it's at Barclays, then that's good, and I hope they do well. But if they don't do well, they're going to have to really reassess their approach to running at that building. They're definitely not going to be running the once a month they said they would, unless something changes and boxing becomes a hit in Brooklyn.

Either way, it's a solid fight -- not great, but solid -- and Schaefer says Peter Quillin will also be on the show, which will wind up either a tripleheader or a quadrupleheader.