Daniel Jacobs – Is He Already The Best Super Middleweight

By Boxing News - 08/21/2008 - Comments

jacobs6678900.jpgBy Scott Gilfoid: Though his name is never brought up when the top super middleweight fighters are mentioned, young 21 year-old Daniel Jacobs (8-0, 8 KOs) may already be the best of the bunch, perhaps even better than Joe Calzaghe and Mikkel Kessler – the two fighters thought by many boxing fans to be the top two super middleweights in the division by far. However, neither Kessler or Calzaghe have the crushing power that Jacobs has, nor the smooth moves on the inside. Indeed, Jacobs, a former PAL national championship and a National Golden Gloves welterweight championship winner, looks to be the successor of those two fighters.

At 21, however, Jacobs is progressing at a rapid rate and looks to ready to take over the division even at this early point in his boxing career. Having fought as a professional for only a year, he obviously has a little more time before he’s going to be pushed up against the likes of fighters like Kessler. However, he looks like he’ll be ready when the time comes, and like I said, he’d probably have enough power and skill to give Kessler huge problems even now. Jacobs’ power is enormous, so that even when he’s not landing perfectly, he’s capable of scoring a knockout.

So far, he’s knocked out all eight of his opponents, with most of the knockouts occurring in the 1st round. He’s sound fundamentally, using his jab, throwing hard to the body and using his defense expertly. Unlike other top amateur fighters like Jeff Lacy that have never quite lived up to their high expectations after turning professional, Jacobs appears much more skilled, showing the ability to box as well as punch. Indeed, it’s for this reason many people feel that Jacobs will have a much better chance of not only becoming a champion in the not too distant future, but someone that will be able to hold onto a title for a long time.

He’s good the goods to dominate like Roy Jones Jr. or Floyd Mayweather Jr. for a long time to come. It’s unfortunate that he’ll never get a shot at Calzaghe, because I would give the 21 year-old Jacobs an excellent chance of defeating Calzaghe. Jacobs isn’t the kind of fighter that can be beaten with slaps and movement, as he always gets his shots in, and whatever he hits, he tends to hurt. He’s knocked out his last three opponents he’s faced, and had them looking badly over-matched in terms of skill and power.

Some of that is careful match-making on his management team’s part, but a lot of it is just the plain tremendous punching power that Jacobs possesses. Believe me, he would likely do the same against better opponents like Kessler and Calzaghe that he’s currently doing to the lesser skilled fighters that he’s taking out. His power is simply too good for any fighter to take without getting hurt almost immediately and becoming a victim for him.



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