By Dan Ambrose: A very thin looking Danny Jacobs (32-2, 29 KOs) weighed in at 159.6 pounds on Friday at his weigh-in for his 12 round fight against unbeaten middleweight contender Luis Arias (18-0, 9 Kos) on Saturday night at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.
(Photo Credit Marilyn Paulino, Matchroom, Salita Promotions)
Arias weighed in at the middleweight limit at 160 lbs. Both guys looked in great shape. Jacobs looked like the taller fighter by at least an inch. We’ll have to see how much weight Jacobs gains back by fight time after he rehydrates. Jacobs looked huge against Gennady Golovkin in his last fight in March.
The size difference between the two middleweights looked extreme. Jacobs obviously goes through a great deal of pain to boil down to 160 to compete in that weight class. Jacobs belongs in the 168-lb. division, but he’s been able to make weight somehow to stay at 160.
During the face off, Jacobs and Arias both jawed at each other. It was harmless though. Arias didn’t look as motivated as he’d been during the press conferences when talking to the boxing media.
Arias is in the roll of a spoiler in this fight. If he beats Jacobs on Saturday, he’ll spoil the dreams of his new promoter Eddie Hearn and ruin it for HBO, who just signed him to a multi-fight deal.
Jacobs says he has zero pressure in this fight against Arias, but it appears he’s in denial. Jacobs does have pressure, quite a lot of it in fact. He’s been telling the boxing fans that he deserved the victory over IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin earlier this year on March 18. Jacobs believes he’s the now the best fighter in the 160-lb. division now that he’s fought Golovkin and lost a controversial decision to him in his mind.
If Jacobs truly is the best in the middleweight division, then he’ll have to beat Arias with ease. Anything less than an easy victory for Jacobs on Saturday night will be proof that he’s not as good as he thinks he is. Arias says he’s not going to roll over for Jacobs. In fact, Arias says he plans on taking the fight to Jacobs and knocking him out if he doesn’t run all over the ring to keep from getting blasted out by him.
”I’m ready to shock the world,” said Arias.
Heavyweight Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller (19-0-1, 17 KOs) weighed in at a rather svelte 284.4 lbs. for his co-feature bout against former heavyweight world title challenger Mariusz Wach (33-2, 17 KOs). The 37-year-old Wach weighed in at 268 lbs. Miller, 29, came in 15 pounds lighter than the 298 lbs. that he weighed in at for his last fight against Gerald Washington on July 29.
”I definitely dropped some weight,” said Miller. ”I am going to kick his behind. It’s going to be fireworks.”
This is an important fight for Miller, who is fighting for the forst time with his new promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport. It’s also Miller’s first fight on HBO Boxing. Miller is looking to take his career to the next level with the help of HBO and Hearn. Miller is talking about him getting a potential title shot against IBF/WBA. heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in 2 fights from ow if he keeps winning. The fight with Wach will count for one of those fights. We’ll need to see who Miller faces next after this fight. Miller is still a work in progress. If he gets matched against someone a little too tough, he may end up losing before Hearn can get him in a big cash out fight against Joshua.
Miller will open a lot of eyes in the boxing world if he can blast out the 6’7” Wach, as he’s never been knocked out quickly. Alexander Povetkin stopped Wach in the 12th round of their fight in 2015 after Wach suffered an injury.
