Will Danny Jacobs glass chin ruin his chances of being the number one middleweight in the world?

By Boxing News - 02/04/2017 - Comments

Image: Will Danny Jacobs glass chin ruin his chances of being the number one middleweight in the world?

By Adam Kallanous: A fighter’s chin is a term that refers to his ability to tolerate physical trauma to the chin or jaw without being knocked unconscious.

Iron or granite would be used to describe a fighter with the ability to take powerful punches to the head, and shrug them off. A glass jaw is used to describe a fighter that lacks this trait, and instead finds themselves on the canvass.

It’s not certain what determines the durability of a fighters chin. Some attribute genetics while others believe it’s the strength in the neck. Hall of fame inductee Teddy Atlas believes it’s all a mental. Regardless of the cause, a weak chin can derail even the best boxers hopes and dreams.

Daniel Jacobs is currently ranked the #2 middleweight in the world and he will be fighting Gennady Golovkin for the WBA Super, IBF, and WBC Middle weight championship March 18th at Madison Square Garden, but…….

Many are concerned that his chin will be his downfall. What is it that makes his chin suspect?

Danny was born and raised in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brownsville. He was raised by his mother, Yvette Jacobs, and his grandmother; Cordelia Jacobs (remember this for later)

He started boxing at 14, and quickly became a Brownsville celebrity. He won 4 New York Golden Gloves championships, in addition to many others including the Jr. Olympic National Championship. To be a top amateur in Brownsville you have to be tuff as nails, as its boxing roots grow deep, and its talent is rich.

Jacobs ended his amateur career with an impressive 137-7 record.

He started his professional career with a bang by stopping Jose Jesus Hurtado by TKO in only 29 seconds in the first round. He went on to win his first 20 bouts. He won 10 of them in the first round. In his 21st professional fight he met undefeated Russian fighter Dimitry Pirog in 2010.

This is where the legend of the glass jaw begins.

After a few competitive rounds Pirog put down Jacobs in the 5th. It was a perfect right hand that was set up with a Fitzsimons shift.

The punches you don’t see coming are usually the ones that hurt the most, and this was an ambush. Shifting has been mostly unused for a few decades, and Jacobs just hadn’t seen it enough in his experience to anticipate it.

In a bizarre boxing moment, Jacobs stayed motionless on the canvass starring to the ceiling for a 5 count until Hall of Fame ref, Robert Byrd called the fight.

As the ref waived his hands to end the fight Jacobs quickly became alert, and made an attempt to rise before the 10 count, but it was too late.

It appeared as though he would have been able to continue, but we will never know.

In the beginning of this article I mentioned two things I would like to bring back up t this moment.

1. Is that Jacobs was raised by his mother, and grandmother Cordelia Jacobs.

2. Is that according to legendary trainer Teddy Atlas “a boxer’s chin is a mind frame”.

Just one week before Jacobs entered the ring with Pirog his grandmother had passed.

Danny’s trainer Andre Rozier had this to say about the week leading up to the fight:

“His grandmother was his world. I wanted to pull out of the fight because he was an emotional wreck”.

Now sometimes even my 11 year old daughter reminds me that excuses are like but holes, and everyone has one, but in a game that’s 90% mental, when your trainer wants to pull you out of a fight describing you as an emotional wreck, maybe it was a factor.

No one knows what was going through Jacobs mind as he lay there motionless, but under normal conditions one cannot question Danny’s mental fortitude.

Most are aware of Danny Jacobs’s battle with cancer, that dubbed him “The Miracle Man”, but you might know the whole story.

Danny had a cancerous tumor growing into his spine. After surgery and chemo he was told he might not ever walk right again, much less box.

3 months later Danny Jacobs walked into his boxing gym and said “I’m here to work”. Jacobs was in a full body brace from neck to waist, and was described as moving like a 90 year old man, but he slowly stepped in front of the mirror and started to shadow box. According to his trainer he was only capable of a few punches that day, but he came back the next day, and the next, and the next until he was once again a world class fighter.

That’s not the kind of will easily broken, and I am confident that Danny Jacobs has the heart, and mind of a champion.

The other evidence that’s offered to prove Jacobs weak chin is a flash knockdown by Sergio Mora, who is not known for having much pop in his punches. Jacobs had just knocked down the Latin Snake seconds earlier, in the first round. After rising, Mora retreated to the ropes, while Jacobs chased, but perhaps without the proper patience.

He approached Mora with his hands down at his sides, in a squared position only to be hit with a check hook that sent him to the floor. He was on his feet by the 4 count, and even finished the round as the aggressor.

Perhaps his thirteen 1st round stoppages at that point gave him too much confidence, but for whatever reason Jacobs simply did not show any respect for the seemingly hurt Mora. Say what you want about Mora, but the guy had been around the block a few times, and was a little slicker than Jacobs had expected.

That is the entire body of evidence that leads some to believe Jacobs can’t take a punch. He hit the canvass two times in 33 professional fights.

He has never been unconscious. or even done a chicken dance in the ring, but boxing fans are unforgiving. Some will ignore his achievements, and discount his chance besting GGG, based solely on those two moments.

Since a boxers chin is not easily measured, and is not completely absolute there really is no definite answer either way, but I would like to say this.

If you are expecting Jacobs to fold like a cheap suit as soon as he takes a couple shots, you might not be giving The Miracle Man the credit he has earned.This should be a great, action packed fight, and regardless of who you think will win, its not going to be an easy night for either man in the ring.