Jacobs Stops Rios

By Boxing News - 07/25/2008 - Comments

jacobs45356574.jpgBy Chris Williams: Super middleweight prospect Daniel Jacobs (8-0, 7 KOs) once again scored a 1st round TKO, this being his 6th TKO in the first round out of seven total knockouts on his record. His latest victim, Sergio Rios (18-9, 16 KOs), was dropped to the canvas late in the round after taking a four punch combination to the head. Although the last punch that hit Rios, a powerful right hand, didn’t appear to connect cleanly, but it still had the effect of knocking Rios to the canvas as if he were ran over by a truck. Referee Raul Caiz moved in immediately and halted the fight at 2:46 of the 1st round. Whether the punch landed cleanly or not, Rios was taking severe punishment in the round from Jacobs, who was making every punch he threw count.

Using mostly hooks, Jacobs hammered Rios to the body and head steadily in the round. The shots were all thrown very hard, and Rios, who had lost eight of his last nine fights going into Wednesday’s bout with Jacobs, looked uneasy in the first few seconds of the fight after tasting a few powerful hooks from Jacobs. Every punch that Jacobs landed was a like a mini explosion going off, making a loud sound and causing Rios to take a backwards step with every blow. Rios, for his part, hardly threw anything back at all during the entire round and was mostly busy taking tremendous punishment.

After taking some pretty heavy punches, Rios instinctively backed up to the ropes where he tried to cover up and block some of the incoming fire. It didn’t work, however, as Jacobs riddled him to pieces with four consecutive left-right combinations, sending Rios to the canvas where he lay briefly, looking very clear-eyed and alert as the referee Raul Caiz counted him out at 2:46 of the 1st round.

I don’t think for a second that Rios ever considered getting up from the knockdown to continue fighting, because he probably knew what was in store for him if he had bothered to try and continue fighting.

Jacobs, only 21, is a former amateur star from Brooklyn, New York and has won a vast number of amateur awards from the 2003 Junior Olympics national champion to the 2006 United States Amateur middleweight champion, to name just a couple of his many honors. Jacobs went on before the Jeff Lacy vs. Epifanio Mendoza bout, but the contrast between Lacy, also a super middleweight, and Jacobs was quite stunning to say the least.

Jacobs, though only 21, looks to be a much better fighter than Lacy by far. Not only does Jacobs punch harder than Lacy, but he also has a wider assortment of punches, a better work rate and much better overall boxing skills than the 31 year-old Lacy. I think Jacobs if matched against a fighter like Lacy, even at this early in stage Jacob’s career, he’d still make quick work of Lacy and give him a methodical beating before taking him out in three or four rounds. Jacobs appears to have much better skills and seems to be the real deal. He does, however, need to start stepping it up against better competition because I’m not sure how much he’s learning by easily knocking out one crummy opponent after another in the 1st round.

It seems more like a confidence booster if anything, but given his many amateur fights, I’m not sure if he really needs to have his confidence raised by beating exclusively lower level fighters. Like Yuriorkis Gamboa, the unbeaten Cuban featherweight sensation, Jacobs is ready to step it up against the best opposition immediately. All that’s happening now, I’m afraid, is that his career is being stunted by him facing fighters with few boxing skills, giving Jacobs almost nothing to learn from by winning the fight.