By Jim Dower: Daniel Jacobs complained vehemently after the fight last Saturday in losing a 12 round unanimous decision to unbeaten Gennady Golovkin in their middleweight championship in front of a large crowd of 19,939 a Madison Square Garden in New York. Jacobs says he won and he wants a rematch.
Golovkin says give Jacobs the rematch that he’s asking for. However, Jacobs likely need to wait until 2018 for the rematch because Golovkin is booked up for the remainder of 2017 with fights against Billy Joe Saunders in June and a likely huge fight against Saul Canelo Alvarez. There is still an outside chance that Jacobs could get a fight against Golovkin in 2017 if the Canelo fight fails to take place this year. Golovkin also doesn’t have an opponent for December, so Jacobs could get a shot in that month.
“Of course I want that fight,” said Golovkin. “I am like an animal for that fight, but I will give Danny Jacobs a chance for a rematch.”
Jacobs said after the fight that he had threw more punches and landed more than Golovkin. The punch stats don’t bear that out. Golovkin actually threw more and landed more punches in the fight, which is probably why the three judges gave him the victory. To hear Jacobs complain afterwards, you would think he won the fight. Jacobs’ body language was negative throughout the fight in moving latterly and backwards instead of coming at Golovkin. Jacobs fought Golovkin a lot like Willie Monroe Jr. did. Jacobs didn’t come forward to try and win. He was largely just trying not to get hit, and that’s never a winning formula.
“We have to see what happens with Canelo in May, but that would be the priority,” Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler said about a rematch with Jacobs. “Danny fought a terrific fight. They both did.”
The unification fight for Golovkin against WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders is a more important fight for Triple G than going back for a rematch against Jacobs. Golovkin wants the final world title at 160 that Saunders has in his possession. That’s been Golovkin’s dream for many years since he first captured the WBA title 7 years ago.
Golovkin isn’t going to put that fight on hold just so he can give Jacobs a rematch and prove that his win over him wasn’t a fluke thing. Golovkin and Jacobs will definitely face each other in the future. Jacobs, 29, is still young and talented. He won’t be going anywhere. It’s doubtful that Jacobs will get beaten in the meantime, mostly because his management is very careful in whom they match him against. Jacobs would have a ton of problems against someone like Tureano Johnson or Jermall Charlo, but the odds of him facing either of those guys before an eventual rematch with Golovkin are slim and none.
“I know the performance I had. I know the future is bright,” said Jacobs. I’m going to keep pushing. He wasn’t what everybody made him out to be. He definitely wasn’t a boogie man, a knockout artist everyone is saying. Even when I got knocked down, I wanted to go trade with him right there because it really didn’t hurt me. I wouldn’t say he was the biggest middleweight, but he’s a fair sized middleweight. I knew going into the fight I’d be the bigger man. We out-landed him in punches. I threw more punches. We were just overall successful with our game plan. He was a tough fighter. I knew he would come forward, but he showed respect. He didn’t come forward like he did against the 23 fighters that he knocked out. He showed respect and my boxing ability demanded that. I got hit with an overhand right on the back of my ear, and I said, ‘This is what I’m working with. OK, it’s not that bad. We can work,’” said Jacobs.
Jacobs was not interested in being the gracious loser of the fight last. He was definitely complaining a lot and giving Golovkin ZERO credit. In contrast, Golovkin had nothing but nice things to say about Jacobs after the fight. Golovkin gave Jacobs credit for fighting him well, and showing his boxing ability. Golovkin wasn’t pointing out Jacobs’ faults, and how he was knocked down.
“I respect Daniel Jacobs, and he did a very good job and clean job,” Golovkin said. “Daniel Jacobs is my favorite fighter — quality, very good fighter after I knocked him down. I respect his team.”
There was a big difference in how Golovkin spoke of Jacobs compared to how he was downgrading Triple G fiercely after the fight. Jacobs may not have realized how much of a poor loser he appeared by him criticizing Golovkin and making light of his talent. It made Jacobs look not only like a poor loser, but also someone who didn’t understand that he was lowering himself by pointing out how average he thought Golovkin was. After all, if Jacobs couldn’t beat a flawed fighter like Golovkin, what does that say about him?
The win for Golovkin was his 18th consecutive successful title defense. Unfortunately for Golovkin, his 23 consecutive knockout streak ended by him having to go the full 12 round distance with Jacobs. Golovkin will likely be starting a new streak in his next fight against Saunders. Golovkin seemed to realize after the fight with Jacobs that he needs to bring real drama show when he fights so that he can entertain the boxing fans and take the judges out of the equation.
It looked as if Golovkin made it a point to box Jacobs rather than slug, and that’s why the fight went the distance rather than it ending by a knockout. Golovkin showed respect for Jacobs and perhaps too much respect for a fighter that was there to be knocked out. You can argue that Golovkin overestimated Jacobs’ talent level, as he looked little better than Willie Monroe Jr. in the talent level.
If this had been Canelo in the ring with Jacobs last night, I think he would have been knocked out in 6 rounds. Canelo would have gone after Jacobs with power shots and taken him out quickly. Canelo wouldn’t have showed as much respect. Golovkin seemed to have got caught in fighting with a specific game plan of using his boxing, and he failed to switch to another gear when it became clear that Jacobs was fighting a finesse oriented fight based on fear rather than an aggressive one. This would have been an easy fight for Golovkin had he used the same “drama show” game plan that he used for the Kell Brook fight.
“I think I won the fight, and I think the fans support me,” Jacobs said. “ think I won by two rounds at least. They want the big fight [for Golovkin against Canelo Alvarez], and Daniel Jacobs got X’d out. I won the fight, and I won the decision, and all I can do is be gracious in the decision.”
Jacobs was hardly being gracious after the fight. At the post-fight press conference, Jacobs criticized Golovkin throughout, saying his power is overrated and pointing out how e should have won the fight. Jacobs stooped pretty low in saying that the only reason Golovkin won was because they want “Golovkin against Canelo.” It wasn’t a conspiracy with the judges in them deliberately giving Golovkin the victory because they want to see a bigger fight between him and Canelo. The judges scored the fight the way they saw it. For Jacobs to say that Golovkin won because they want to see him fight Canelo, it invalidates the judges for what they saw in the fight. Jacobs would have had a better chance of winning last night if he had come forward and taken the fight to Golovkin instead of fighting on his back foot all night.