Daniel Jacobs: I see Sergio Mora as the most devastating opponent I’ve had thus far

By Boxing News - 07/05/2015 - Comments

mora1By Dan Ambrose: WBA World middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs (29-1, 26 KOs) is taking seriously his title defense next month on August 1st against former WBA junior middleweight champion Sergio Mora (28-3-2, 9 KOs) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Mora, 34, is ranked only #11 by the WBA, and is clearly not the same fighter he once was seven years ago when he was the WBA 154lb champ, but he’s easily one of the better fighters than Jacobs has fought during his career.

The fact is Jacobs hasn’t faced a quality fighter since his 6th round knockout loss to Dmitry Pirgog five years ago in 2010. Since then, Jacobs has won his nine straight fights against middle of the road opposition. He picked up the WBA middleweight title the easy way in beating Jarrod Fletcher by a 5th round stoppage last year in August.

Had Jacobs had to fight someone dangerous like Tureano Johnson or Gennady Golovkin, his chances of victory likely would have been quite low. For that reason, you can understand why Jacobs is very concerned about Mora because this guy is probably in the same class as him in terms of talent.

“He’s been in this position before,” Jacobs said. “So, he’s already accustomed to being in this position and being an underdog but I can’t take him lightly even though he will be an underdog and even though people will pick me as a favorite to win. I’m looking at him as the most devastating opponent that I’ve had thus far coming up to middleweight.”

Mora didn’t look that great in his last fight in February of this year in beating ESPN regular Abraham Han by a 12 round split decision at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, in Biloxi, Mississippi, USA. That was a very, very hard fight for Mora, and a lot of boxing fans felt that Han had done enough to deserve the victory over Mora.

Never the less, Mora, the better known fighter, was able to escape with a close victory to keep his career alive for a little while longer. In beating Han, Mora won the vacant USBA middleweight title. Han dropped Mora in the 10th round. That obviously isn’t a good sign for Mora because if a non-puncher like Han was able to drop him, then you can imagine what a guy with Jacobs power could do to Mora if he’s able to land anything clean in this fight.

In Jacob’s first defense of his WBA title, he defeated Caleb Truax by a 12th round knockout last April. Neither fighter looked good, but Truax’s poor work rate led to Jacobs scoring a knockout in the 12th.

If Jacobs can get past Mora, he’ll have a mandatory defense due in his next fight unless he’s able to steer around that fight. That could be against Chris Eubank Jr. That”ll be a real tough fight for Jacobs compared to the fighters he’s been facing.

Also on the same card of the Jacobs-Mora fight is Danny Garcia making his first fight at the full weight for the welterweight division against Paulie Malignaggi. It’s not a risky fight for Garcia, who has seemed very reluctant to mix it up with real welterweights since he first started testing himself in the division last year.



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