Daniel Jacobs vs. Sergio Mora analysis

By Boxing News - 08/29/2016 - Comments

Image: Daniel Jacobs vs. Sergio Mora analysis

By Allan Fox: WBA middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs (31-1, 28 KOs) will be defending his title against Sergio “The Latin Snake” Mora (28-4-2, 9 KOs) in a rematch in less than two weeks on Friday, September 9 at the Santander Arena in Reading, Pa. The Jacobs-Mora II rematch hasn’t caught the attention of boxing fans because it’s not a fight that is in demand at all, period.

The management for Mora and Jacobs obviously saw it as an important enough fight to have it televised on Premier Boxing Champions on Spike. As far as rematches go, I think it would have been far better for Jacobs to have fought Peter Quillin again if he wanted a rematch. I’d rather see the two of them fight each other again rather than another mismatch between Jacobs and the 35-year-old Mora.

This should be another easy fight for Jacobs, who stopped Mora in the 2nd round last year in August. The fight ended after Mora broke an ankle after getting dropped.

“This is business for me, but it is also more personal than any fight I have ever had,” said Jacobs. “Sergio had been using the antics online to get this rematch, and he has gotten under my skin.”

Power: Jacobs has a big advantage in this department over the light hitting Mora. There’s no comparison. Mora can’t punch and never had been able to.

Speed: The speed advantage also goes to Jacobs. He has the much better hand speed of the two. Mora used to have decent hand speed earlier in his life, but he’s slowed down over the years and his speed is only average now.

Defensive skills: I think you can give the defensive skills to Mora. He’s a good defensive fighter, but that’s about it.

Mobility: Mora can still move around the ring when he wants to. However, he can be easily caught by Jacobs, who is pretty fleet of foot when he’s chasing a runner down. I don’t see Mora being able to run from Jacobs if he chooses to go that route.

Youth: Jacobs is a young 29 and Mora is about to turn 36. Do I need to say more?

I think Mora was always going to get the rematch against Jacobs even if he had been quiet completely about wanting a second fight. I guess their previous fight must have brought in good ratings or something because that’s the only reason you can argue for a second fight. It’s not as if Jacobs’ win over Mora was controversial or anything.

Jacobs knocked Mora down twice in the fight, once in the 1st and another time in the 2nd. Mora knocked Jacobs down in round one, but that was a lucky shot. In the 2nd round, Jacobs was really having his way with Mora up until the fight was stopped. It was no longer a competitive fight once the 2nd round started because Jacobs was boxing more and picking his shots rather than blindingly throwing huge punches.

Mora has a lot of things going against him in the rematch. First off, he’s not fought in an entire year since his loss to Jacobs. I’m not entirely sure why Mora didn’t come back after his ankle healed. He should have gotten back inside the ring to fight at least one person, but he didn’t. He’s been taking it easy waiting on the rematch. So we’re talking about a rusty Mora that will be fighting Jacobs on September 9.

There’s also the fact that Mora can punch at all, and he’s kind of old. Mora will be turning 36 in December. That’s pretty old. Mora hasn’t beaten anyone good in years since his win over an out of shape Vernon Forrest in 2008. All Mora’s wins since then have come against journeyman level fighters. There’s no quality there.

Jacobs is said to have been not too eager to take the rematch, and yet he still took it. You have to wonder whether he could have been assertive to protest against it to push for a quality opponent for a change. Mora isn’t even ranked in the top 15 right now by any of the sanctioning bodies, which isn’t all that surprising because he hasn’t fought in an entire year. Why would a sanctioning body rank him in the top 15 when he lost his last fight and hasn’t been fighting? It doesn’t make sense.

Jacobs has fought once since the Mora fight in beating Peter Quillin by a 1st round knockout last December. It was a good performance by Jacobs.

Prediction

This is Jacobs’ fight to lose. He’s so much better than Mora in almost every area that it’s not even a fight. Mora will need a miracle to get the win in this fight, and I don’t see him getting any miracles. I’m sure Mora will give a good college try in this fight, but I see him ultimately getting knocked out. I think the fight will be over by the 3rd or 4th round. Hopefully this is the last time that Jacobs fights Mora, because it would be sad if we see the two fighting each other over and over again rather than moving on.