By Al Classico: Daniel Jacobs (32-1, 29KOs), aka ‘The Miracle Man’ has really cemented himself as one of the legitimate middleweight challengers to Golovkin with his emphatic 1 round stoppage of fellow top middleweight Peter Quillin in December 2015. It’s hard to gauge whether that KO was the result of Jacob’s skill level or due to a lapse of concentration and a slow start from Peter Quillin but it was likely a culmination of both.
Perhaps we need to see a rematch between the two to get a more accurate picture on how good both Jacobs and Quillin are in respect to each other. If Jacobs opts not to give Quillin an immediate rematch, but instead decides to take on the biggest challenge of his career and face Golovkin, then how is he likely to fare against the so called ‘Middleweight Monster’?
Jacobs has already demonstrated that he holds dynamite in both hands and his KO record of 90% clearly reflects that. Perhaps he doesn’t have the same one punch power that Golovkin does but he certainly hits hard and hits often with a flurry of vicious combinations that don’t allow his opponents any time to get set or to recover once they’ve been rocked. This is why most of his fights end in the early rounds as his opponents succumb to the relentless pressure. He definitely has the killer instinct to punish his man when he has him in trouble.
He fights with a high risk but high reward strategy where the reward is an early stoppage but the other side of the same coin is the risk of tiring himself out with volume power punching. He has not been taken into deep water often and this is where he may be most vulnerable against a methodical assassin such as Golovkin. Although he tends to throw a barrage of punches, he does also miss a lot and against a skilled technician, he may be exposed and punished for it. He has also been dropped by a relatively light punching Sergio Mora so his chin is definitely suspect. Unfortunately against Golovkin, this may be his greatest flaw as GGG is the most devastating and accurate puncher in the division where 1 punch on the button could spell the end for Jacobs.
I feel that Jacobs has a genuine chance to upset Golovkin though. He certainly possesses the weapons to hurt GGG but whether or not he can utilise those weapons and get going is another matter. His only chance at defeating GGG would be to overwhelm him in the early rounds and put together some powerful combinations. GGG has already shown that he has a rock solid chin even against the biggest middleweight punchers (Lemieux and Stevenson), however he has never actually exposed himself to a combination of hard shots, something that Jacobs is capable of doing. If Jacobs can’t hurt Golovkin early and score an unlikely TKO within the first 4 rounds, then I don’t see him having a plan B, especially once they are into the deeper rounds.
If GGG can withstand Jacob’s early onslaught, which I feel he will be able to do, then he will simply break him down a la every other power punching opponent that he has faced. He will disrupt Jacobs with his precise and powerful jab and then land his own counters and offensive bombs. Jacob’s suspect chin will not be able to handle the power from Golovkin and I see a stoppage occurring in the middle rounds via a KO or TKO in the 6th or 7th round. This will be a very high octane fight early on but once Jacobs tastes the power of GGG, he will immediately be on the back foot and I see the fight playing out in a similar fashion to GGG v Lemieux.
Even though Jacobs has the weaponry to hurt GGG early, the Miracle Man will need a miracle to cause an upset. Him and his team are obviously conscious of this which is why he wasn’t too vocal in expressing his desire to fight GGG in the post Quillin fight press conference. The politics of boxing are also likely to get in the way of this fight being made soon but I hope that I am wrong and that we get to see this as I, like most boxing fans really want to see Golovkin in the ring with another top 3 opponent for once. We won’t hold our breath but we will keep our fingers crossed!
Please leave your comments below as I’d love to hear your thoughts on how this potential fight would play out!
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