Sanchez hoping Golovkin-Jacobs can get made

By Boxing News - 09/29/2016 - Comments

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By Dan Ambrose: With a match against Saul Canelo Alvarez not happening due to the Mexican star being injured and his promoters at Golden Boy not interested in making a fight, IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady GGG Golovkin is looking to face WBA “regular’ middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs next on December 10. HBO wants the fight, as it’ll be a big one for boxing fans, and Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez wants the fight to take place.

Sanchez is hoping that Jacobs doesn’t price himself out of the fight by asking for more money than the fight can provide. Sanchez suspects that Jacobs will be stripped of his WBA title by the World Boxing Association if he chooses to not take the place, because they’ve ordered the fight.

Jacobs can choose not to take the fight, but he’ll likely lose his WBA title and be sent back into the contender ranks, which would give him less power and standing among the fans. At least with Jacobs holding a portion of the WBA 160lb title, he’s seen more as a legitimate fighter than he would if he’s just an aging contender about to turn 30, and with only one good win during his entire career.

“I hope the Jacobs fight gets made. We want that fight,” Sanchez said to ESPN.com. “I think Danny has been quiet and patient, and now that the WBA has ordered the fight, he’s talking. He has a lot of talent.”

Golovkin-Jacobs would make big news and would be a shot in the arm for the sport of boxing if the fight can get made. Canelo and WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders might not be willing to take on Golovkin for the time being, but Jacobs has a chance to stand out if he faces Triple G. As we saw in the recent Golovkin vs. Kell Brook fight, even if Jacobs loses the fight, he’ll be viewed as a hero in the eyes of fans if he can make it competitive for three or four rounds. That’s basically what Brook did. He was competitive for four rounds, but as soon as he started taking punishment in the 5th, his corner stopped the fight quickly.

Brook was then able to get out of the fight by saving face by saying it was his corner that stopped the fight rather than him being stopped by Golovkin or him quitting from the punishment. If Jacobs can do the same thing, he’ll be able to escape the Golovkin fight with his credibility still intact despite losing by a knockout. It’s not so bad to suffer a defeat at the hands of Golovkin if you lose the right way, as we saw with Brook. It still doesn’t erase the fact that you lost, but in boxing, image is everything and fans lose sight of the larger picture, which would be Jacobs getting stopped just like Brook did.

“How is Golovkin going to scare him? That’s a guy who really believes there is nothing he can’t handle,” Sanchez said about Jacobs. “Golovkin understands that Danny Jacobs would be coming at him with that kind of mentality. Our job is just to make sure that with all of Gennady’s success, that he doesn’t get complacent.”

Jacobs is good when he’s on the outside, throwing pot shots with full force, and throwing occasional speedy flurries. Jacobs, 29, is less effective when he’s being backed up and hit a lot, which is what happened in his 6th round knockout defeat at the hands of Dmitry Pirog six years ago in 2010. Pirog came into the fight with his mind made up that he was going to back Jacobs up and force him to fight in the retreat mode for the entire fight, which is what happened.

Pirog obviously saw how Jacobs struggled badly during his amateur days whenever he was facing opponents that pressured him from the outset. Jacobs tends to crumble mentally when he’s pressured hard, and he starts backing up. Once Jacobs is backing up, he loses power on his shots and he struggles. Jacobs has won his last 12 fights since his loss to Pirog in 2012, but he’s fought guys that didn’t pressure him, didn’t have punching power, and were out of his class.

For the most part, Jacobs hasn’t fought good opponents. Jacobs beat Peter Quillin by a 1st round knockout last December, but the fight didn’t prove anything because Quillin has been spoon fed weak opposition for years. The one good fighter that Qullin fought in Andy Lee, he was unable to beat him. The two fighters fought to a 12 round draw.

If Jacobs or his manager Al Haymon choose to not take the fight with Golovkin, then they could wind up missing a chance for a big payday, because if they wait two or three fights from now to try and make the fight, Jacobs will no longer be the WBA “regular” 160lb champion due to the WBA stripping him for failing to take the fight. As a contender, Jacobs will make less money than he will as the WBA regular belt holder.

“I hope the fight gets made,” Sanchez said about the Golovkin-Jacob fight. “I know Tom [Loeffler] is working on it diligently.”

The winner of the Golovkin-Jacobs fight will have more status and popularity in the sport to bring in more boxing fans. The winner of the Golovkin vs. Jacobs fight will create a lot of news. This in turn will lead to greater pressure from people on Canelo Alvarez and Golden Boy to get them to make the fight against the winner of the Golovkin-Jacobs fight. It’ll become increasingly harder for Golden Boy and Canelo to drag their collective feet when it comes to fighting Golovkin if he’s the winner, because the fans will be on their case to make the fight happen already.

If Golden Boy chooses not to make the fight in 2017, it’s going to hurt Canelo’s popularity. This isn’t the same situation like the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao fight, where Canelo can avoid the fight against Golovkin for many years without losing boxing fans. Canelo absolutely needs the Golovkin fight for him to become a star. If he chooses not to fight him, then he’s not going to be able to pick up the start appeal that he needs for him to become a crossover attraction.