By Jeff Aranow: Daniel Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs) is a highly talented fighter with explosive punching power, but he won’t beat IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) this Saturday night in their fight, says former IBF 160lb. champion David Lemieux. He does not see Jacobs being able to do the job on the powerful Golovkin.
Lemieux lost to Golovkin less than 2 years ago in getting stopped in the 8th round in October 2015. Lemieux put in a good effort to try and beat Golovkin, but he couldn’t get past his powerful jabs, which he was hitting him with over and over during the first 7 rounds of the fight. Golovkin changed things up in round 8 by going after Lemieux with power shots, and he was able to stop him quickly. Lemieux was hurt by a body shot and defenseless at the time the referee wisely stopped the bout.
This Saturday, Golovkin will be fighting Jacobs on HBO PPV at Madison Square Garden in New York.
“Jacobs is a very good fighter,” said Lemieux to secondsout.com. “He’s an explosive type of guy. He’s strong and he has good boxing abilities, but I don’t see Jacobs beating Golovkin,” said Lemieux.
Lemieux’s thoughts are echoed by a lot of boxing fans. They see Jacobs an explosive fighter capable of knocking guys out quickly, but he’s out of his league against a fighter with the sound fundamentals that Golovkin possesses. Jacobs will need to raise his game to a high degree for him to be able to beat Triple G, and it might be well beyond his capabilities. If Jacobs loses on Saturday, it won’t be for his lack of preparation and planning.
Jacobs and his team have put in a lot of work in training camp to prepare for the Golovkin fight. Jacobs moved his training camp from New York to Hayward, California to train at Virgil Hunter’s gym. Hunter is the trainer for light heavyweight champion Andre Ward. Being in Hunter’s gym makes some boxing fans believe that Jacobs will be using spoiling tactics to limit Golovkin’s punch output on Saturday. Andre Ward does a lot of holding at times in his fights. Jacobs could try the same tactic with Golovkin to keep him from throwing punches.
Lemieux wants to fight Golovkin again in the near future after he faces Saul Canelo Alvarez or Billy Joe Saunders. Golovkin is the last in the line of fighters that is on Lemieux’s hit list. Lemieux has tough work ahead of him to beat Canelo and Saunders. Just getting the fights will be tough enough for Lemieux. Winning them will be the real issue for the 28-year-old Canadian, although he does appear capable of doing that.
Lemieux’s shocking 3rd round knockout of Curtis Stevens last Saturday night on HBO Boxing After Dark was a real eye opener for a lot of doubters.
It wasn’t just the final results that surprised the fans and media. It was how good Lemieux looked in doing the job on Stevens. Lemieux was hitting Stevens with tremendous shots, and he never gave him a chance in the fight. It was one-sided from start to finish with Lemieux hitting Stevens with everything but the kitchen sink. Lemieux did a better job of defeating Stevens than Golovkin did in beating him in 2013. Golovkin needed 8 rounds before stopping Stevens, and he took far fewer chances in beating him. Stevens wasn’t stopped on the on the canvas against Golovkin the way he was with Lemieux.