ANDY LEE WILL make the first defence of his WBO middleweight title in New York and not Ireland according to a report in this morning’s Irish Daily Star.

Lee, who beat Matt Korobov in Las Vegas in December to claim the crown, looked set to face Demark’s Patrick Neilsen in Dublin around St. Patrick’s Day.

However, it now appears the Limerick boxer will forego the opportunity to defend his title in front of an Irish crowd and face Peter Quillan in April instead.

By fighting the number two ranked Quillin – known as Kid Chocolate – in the Big Apple, the 30-year old is in line for a significantly bigger payday with the newspaper reporting it could be as much as three or four times what he would make by fighting in Ireland.

Quillin, of course, is a former WBO middleweight title holder but gave up the belt – and $1.2 million payday himself – last September rather than face Korobov.

He said at the time:

“Winning the WBO world championship was a highlight in my career and something I’ll never forget. This is a difficult decision, but in order to make the fights the fans and I want against my fellow middleweights at the top of the division, I needed to relinquish the title.”

So perhaps he had Lee in mind all this time?

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