GGG-Jacobs: It’s About Time

By Dan Tria - 12/22/2016 - Comments

Image: GGG-Jacobs: It’s About Time

By Dan Tria – Finally – Gennady Golovkin and Daniel Jacobs are going to fight! March 18 at Madison Square Garden on HBO Pay-Per-View – what isn’t to like!

Well, lots.

GGG and Jacobs knocked out their opponents one day apart and it took until mid-December to make a fight ordered in early September. Par for the course with Al Haymon-advised fighters.

Jacobs held all the leverage because GGG’s goal is all the middleweight belts. Any pulling out or making of different fights means GGG is stripped of the WBA belt and Jacobs wins it without throwing a punch. No way Jacobs makes the fight at that point.

Jacobs asked for a 40% cut which GGG’s team rightly balked at. Jacobs never fought a top middleweight except for Dmitry Pirog. Fans of Jacobs will point to Peter Quillin and Sergio Mora as legit challenges but that’s a foolish argument. Mora is years past his sell-by date, and in the first fight his balky ankle – not Jacobs’s power – ended the fight. Quillin is also a pretender. If not for a decidedly partisan crowd, no judge in their right mind would have given Quillin the fight over Andy Lee. As it stands the fight was a draw even though Lee outclassed Quillin.

Jacobs arrives with a 7th round knockout of Mora which followed his 1st round knockout of the Quillin. These are not big fights – Jacobs has no name recognition outside of Brooklyn, the only people giving him any chance are PBC die-hards who find every Haymon move a stroke of brilliance.

GGG’s ambition allowed Jacobs to drag negotiations on longer than necessary.

But, onto Jacobs and why this will not be a compelling fight.

GGG is a pressure fighter with no holes. Kell Brook used speed and impeccable technique to cause the Kazakh some problems, but there’s nothing Brook does that Jacobs replicates. Brook moves well and throws impressive combinations. GGG’s pressure style plays to Brook’s strengths, while Jacobs only fight against a substantial pressure fighter was the Pirog fight.

Why did Pirog win? Jacobs holds his hands at upper to mid chest level. This means he must raise them to throw at his opponent’s head. The style would be fine if Jacobs was a body puncher, but he’s not. Jacobs also stands straight up. The combination of carrying his hands low with standing straight is how a wobbly Mora knocked down Jacobs in their first fight. Pirog could pressure Jacobs and avoid getting hit with substantial punches in return. By the time Jacobs brought up his hands and loaded up, Pirog shifted his weight back and Jacobs fired at air. Jacobs did land many more pitty-pat punches than Pirog, but Pirog’s punches were incredibly damaging.

When Pirog delivered the knockout punch in the 5th round, Jacobs had spent much of the fight on the back foot. Unlike the Mora fight, Jacobs couldn’t fight off Pirog’s pressure.

GGG is the pressure fighter’s pressure fighter. In fact – he was supposed to fight Pirog before Pirog suffered a career-ending back injury. GGG is a master of cutting off the ring through incredible footwork. GGG uses his jab to get the opponent on the back foot, then systemically drive them back into a corner. There he unloads a barrage of hooks and upper cuts, including the devastating liver-bound left hook. Opponents will find the escape route, and GGG will sometimes even shift his feet to follow his opponent along the ropes into the next corner. For a visual on how this works, check out Lee Wylie’s “Way of the Hunter.” For GGG’s opponents, there’s no reprieve from the pressure. Other fighters will let the opponent out of the corner and must re-establish the pressure. GGG’s footwork allows him to keep pressure on his opponent, allowing them no time to regroup.

The Brook fight is most instructive on how to possibly blunt GGG’s pressure. It involves counterpunching in combinations and using lateral movement. Except, Brook has a broken eye socket so the best we can say about that strategy is its inconclusive.

Whenever real power threatens GGG, he establishes his jab. The Lemieux fight is instructive here. GGG hasn’t fought anyone else with Lemieux’s power. Some will incorrectly claim Jacobs cracks harder, but Lemieux’s left hook is more compact and violent. GGG knew he had to control distance, and turned the fight into a jab-fest. Lemieux never had a chance to unleash the hook with great effect. There was one moment when GGG’s hook and Lemieux’s hook connected simultaneously. Lemieux staggered backwards and GGG seemed unfazed. This moment is why Jacobs stands no chance and why GGG takes punches better than any fighter today.

Look at GGG’s stance. Shoulders are constantly raised, chin is always tucked. Now watch Jacobs – stands straight up and chin is out. Lemieux had raised shoulders but the chin wasn’t as tucked. Furthermore, GGG’s jabfest caused Lemieux to spend the last four rounds of that fight manically raising and lowering his hands. GGG’s precise placement beat the manic movement. Jacobs keeps his hands too low and doesn’t move his head very well. If Jacobs gets off a clean punch, GGG will pound his chest and nod at Jacobs. That’s his move. GGG’s massive neck and shoulder muscles allow him to absorb clean shots without much damage. They allow him to throw precise jabs that feel more like straight right hands.

To answer the question of how Jacobs can win, it involves completely reinventing his style. It can’t be done. He’s too comfortable standing straight up and keeping his hands low. His hands aren’t fast enough to keep GGG from pressuring him. Pressure fighters like Pirog showed that Jacobs can be crowded and knocked out with a clean shot to the chin.

If Jacobs lasts more than 5 rounds, he should be very proud. Jacobs and his team know all this, and that’s why a fight that was ordered in the second week of September took until Dec. 17 to be made.