By Allan Fox: Former world title challenger Gabriel Rosado was disappointed in the performance by Daniel Jacobs in his loss to Gennady “GGG” Golovkin last weekend. Rosado says that Jacobs made the mistake of giving Golovkin far too much respect by not using his own punching power to beat him. Rosado believes that the fight was there to be won by Jacobs (32-2, 29 KOs) if he had fought with some intensity and used his own formidable punching power to trade with Triple G.
Rosado says Jacobs is a better puncher than Golovkin, but he blew his chance of winning the fight by throwing pitty pat punches the entire fight instead of going for the knockout the way he did in his 1st round knockout win over Peter Quillin.
Jacobs, 29, was just following instructions from his trainer Andre Rozier in fighting a finesse oriented fight. Rozier’s game plan for Jacobs was to have him constantly turning Golovkin by staying on the move and jabbing. Rozier did not want Jacobs punching with Golovkin because he felt that would be risky. Jacobs almost won with Rozier’s style, but he might have done better had he gone after Golovkin with power shots.
Jacobs basically blew it by not using the offensive tools that had gotten him this far in his boxing career. We saw how far Jacobs went in tinkering with his own fighting style when he started switching to a southpaw stance in a desperate hope of throwing Golovkin off. It didn’t work despite Jacobs saying it had Golovkin confused. Jacobs wasn’t effective fighting as a southpaw, and it led directly to him getting knocked down in round 4 when he was caught trying to switch stances.
“It was a close fight,” said Rosado to esnewsreporting.com about the Golovkin vs. Jacobs fight. “I think Jacobs did a lot of good things, but Triple G was landing his jab all day. Jacobs boxed well, but it seems like he never settled in. It seemed like he had nervous energy. When he would let his hands go, he was maybe worrying too much about being countered. It wasn’t GGG’s best performance. It could have gone either way. He would be off balance and would go back to the ropes. Triple G wasn’t letting his hands go as much,” said Rosado.
Jacobs looked nervous in the first six rounds of the fight, and he rarely threw power shots. Golovkin knocked Jacobs down in round 4, and built up a sizable lead going into the second part of the bout. Jacobs started to fight better in the last six rounds, but he still didn’t throw punches like he should have. Jacobs has always been an aggressive boxer/puncher in his past fights. For the Golovkin fight, Jacobs changed his fighting style
“He did get dropped, which is a 10-8 round,” said Rosado about Jacobs. “It was clear as day that whenever Danny would back him up and let his hands go, he was getting the better of the exchange. When Danny would smother him, he would get the better of it. Most of the time he was letting GGG back him up. He forgot that he could punch. This is a guy that could knock anybody out. He’s just as strong as Triple G in terms of punching power, but he backed up like he couldn’t punch. He moved around and pitty pat. He gave Triple G too much respect. I thought, ‘Act like a puncher. Back him up and let your hands go because you can punch just as good if not harder than Triple G.’ It was kind of frustrating to watch him. It was Danny’s first big fight. The style didn’t allow Triple G to be his best. I think the knockdown really made the difference. The fight was there for Danny to win, Danny just gave Triple G too much respect. Danny forgot he’s a power puncher. It really upset me to watch him back up like that. He kind of gave GGG too much respect. It was like, ‘Dude, you can punch. You can put dudes asleep, too.’ If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. When he fought Kid Chocolate [Peter Quillin], he brought it to him. He let his hands go. He got him hurt and he took him out of there. Danny can punch. I just feel that if he had pressed Triple G a little bit more, he’d have been a little more effective. He was definitely getting the better of the exchanges. Whenever they were toe-to-toe on the inside, Danny got the best of it. The only time Triple G was getting off was when Danny was giving Triple G range. I don’t think he got exposed,” said Rosado about Golovkin. “Styles make fights. There aren’t too many middleweights coming in 180 something the day of the fight,” said Rosado about Jacobs.
Jacobs probably wishes he could do the Golovkin fight over again so that he could be aggressive in the rematch, but it’s too late. Jacobs blew his big chance of beating Golovkin. When/if a rematch between the two fighters does take place in the future, Golovkin will very likely be a lot more aggressive too, and Jacobs won’t have the element of surprise if he decides to jump on him to try and score a knockout. Jacobs had his chance to beat Golovkin when he was vulnerable and he blew his chance.
“Congratulations, Danny Jacobs,” said Dirrell to thaboxingvoice.com. “My assessment of Danny Jacobs, he started off boxing masterfully, using his angles, using his jab. After round 5, I assumed he’d be knocked out by now. Although he put on a valiant effort, I still don’t believe Danny Jacobs won the fight. Continually moving, doing what he had to do to stay out of the way of those from Triple G, he was still a little sloppy in my book. He was being touched with way too many jabs, too many right hands, and he wasn’t stable enough in my book. The outcome: Triple G remains undefeated,” said Dirrell.
Jacobs never had great defensive skills to begin with, so it’s not all that surprising that Golovkin was able to hit him with his jabs. Jacobs was there to be hit all night long with his jabs. Jacobs wasn’t using his own jab nearly enough. In the corner, Jacobs’ trainer Rozier wasn’t pushing him to jab Golovkin more, and should have because that would have helped.
Golovkin was the smarter fighter with the better game plan, even though he didn’t fight a great fight. Golovkin was able to beat Jacobs at his own finesse game last Saturday night. Jacobs should have done what Rosado is talking about in trusting his own punching power and looking to score a knockout of Golovkin, but he failed to do it. That’s why he lost, and why he’ll get beaten again if they ever face each other in a rematch.