By Jeff Aranow: Gennady Golovkin vs. Daniel Jacobs 24/7 will premiere this Saturday night on March 4 on HBO Sports. The Golovkin-Jacobs special will preview the fight between the two middleweight champions on March 18 on HBO pay-per-view at Madison Square Garden in New York. This is a big fight involving two of the best fighters in the 160 lb. division.
The recent news of the Saul Canelo Alvarez vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. fight on May 6 on HBO PPV has kind of taken a lot of the air out of the hype for the Golovkin-Jacobs fight. It’s still a great fight between Golovkin and Jacobs, and arguably a better fight than the Canelo-Chavez Jr. match.
The reason for that is because Golovkin is viewed as the best fighter at 160. Canelo hasn’t even fought at the full weight of the 160 pound division, and he vacated his World Boxing Council middleweight title last year to avoid fighting Golovkin. Jacobs is seen by many as the No.2 fighter in the 160lb division.
Chavez Jr. was once one of the best fighters at middleweight, but he’s now not even the 5th best fighter at 168. Canelo-Chavez Jr. involves two good fighters, but not guys on the same level as Golovkin and Jacobs unfortunately.
The start time for the 24/7 Golovkin/Jacobs special on HBO Sports will be at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT.
There’s a chance that Golovkin could lose to Jacobs. It’s not a high chance, but there are some boxing fans that feel that GGG could lose this fight. Most of the fans believe that Golovkin will prevail in this contest. They point to Jacobs’ flimsy resume in the last seven years of his career, and the fact that he soundly beaten by the best fighter he’s faced during his career in Dmitri Pirog. Jacobs did defeat former WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin 1 ½ years ago by a 1st round knockout, but Quillin’s career hasn’t looked the same since he vacated his World Boxing Organization 160lb title when ordered to fight Matt Korobov.
The real question about the Golovkin-Jacobs fight is whether Jacobs can handle the fire power that Triple G has in his arsenal. If the Golovkin vs. Jacobs fight becomes a brawl, can the “Miracle Man” handle the big power shots from GGG? Getting hit by Pirog and crumbling under his right hand seven years ago may give us an indication of what will happen to Jacobs when he gets hit hard by Golovkin on March 18.