By Dan Ambrose: For the past few weeks, Daniel Jacobs (32-2, 29 KOs) has been called the No.2 fighter in the middleweight division behind Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs), but a better choice for the No.2 spot at 160 could be unbeaten Jermall Charlo (25-0, 19 KOs). The 26-year-old former IBF junior middleweight champion Charlo recently moved up in weight to the 160lb division after dominating his opposition at 154.
As bad as Jacobs looked last Saturday night in losing to Triple G by a 12 round unanimous decision, Charlo might be now the No.2 fighter in the middleweight division. Charlo obviously won’t be seen as the guy right behind Golovkin until he starts beating some top fighters in the division, but right now, I think you can make a strong case that he’s the second best fighter in the 160 lb. division. Golovkin didn’t look good either. I think he would have had major problems if he’d been facing Jermall last Saturday instead of Jacobs. Charlo might be better than Golovkin at this point in his career.
Charlo looks fiercer than Jacobs and more willing to put his chin on the line go after a knockout. It’s impossible to believe that Charlo wouldn’t go after Golovkin to try and knock him out last Saturday night. We saw what Jacobs did in fighting in a hesitant manner in touching Golovkin with weak shots, and then moving away quickly to avoid getting hit in return by him. You could see the look of fear in the eyes of Jacobs when he was fighting Golovkin.
Jacobs wasn’t going after him the same way he did Peter Quillin in his 1st round knockout win over him in 2015. Jacobs looked mentally weak inside the ring with Golovkin. The fight was there to be won if Jacobs had attacked GGG in a bold manner, but he wouldn’t do it. Jacobs appeared to be constrained and held back, as if he didn’t want to take any risks whatsoever in the fight. The results were obvious. Jacobs lost the fight because he never took the chances that he needed to.
With Jermall Charlo moving up to 160, boxing could have the eventual replacement for Golovkin after he moves up to 168 or retires. Some fans have been saying that Jacobs will be the replacement for Golovkin. I don’t think that’s the case. I see Jermall taking over the middleweight division, and beating Jacobs and Saul Canelo Alvarez if either of them decides to fight him. Jacobs will likely face Charlo at some point, but I don’t know about Canelo. He didn’t fight Charlo at 154 when he had the chance to, so I don’t see Canelo facing him now that he’s moving up to middleweight.