By Jim Dower: Perhaps the best fighter on the Manny Pacquiao vs. Oscar De La Hoya tonight won’t be either of those two fighters but rather a still largely unknown super middleweight by the name of Daniel Jacobs (12-0, 11 KOs), who has knocked out eleven of his twelve opponents, with eight of them coming in the first round. Although some would point to his soft opposition and say that anyone would with a shred of talent would be able to do the same thing as Jacobs has accomplished.
However, in watching the power that Jacobs, 21, is throwing his jobs, which is quite incredible in comparisons to the other top super middleweights and light heavyweights in the division, one can only come to the conclusion that he has the goods to be the best in the super middleweight division before long. Tonight, he’ll be going up against Victor Lares (14-3, 3 KOs), a slightly better opponent than what Jacobs has faced this far, albeit still another opponent with next to know power unfortunately.
You can expect Jacobs to come out fast, loading up with every shot and trying to take Lara’s head off with every punch. Given the huge crowd and the world wide audience that will be viewing this fight, due it being on the Pacquiao-De La Hoya undercard, the fight will likely not go beyond the first round.
In Jacobs last fight, he stopped an over-matched Jimmy Campbell in the 3rd round, dropping him with a flurry of power shots to the head. Campbell never had much of a chance and was on the run from the first round. In the 3rd, Jacobs finally caught up to him and took him out with some tremendous shots.
It’s unfortunate that Joe Calzaghe will be retiring soon, because Jacobs would have been a very tough opponent for him, one that Calzaghe might have lost to if the two had fought. Jacobs hits so hard that even when he does land with full force, he still can take out an opponent. Although Calzaghe would no doubt make Jacobs miss with a lot of his shots, eventually he would catch up to Calzaghe and land something big and possibly take him out.
Undefeated Victor Ortiz (22-0-1, 17 KOs) will be going up against the tough Jeffrey Resto (22-3, 13 KOs) in a scheduled 12-round bout for the World Boxing Organization NABO light welterweight title. Ortiz, 21, is being hyped highly by many despite his unimpressive showings against Dairo Esalas, Emmanuel Clottey, Corey Alarcon and Marvin Cardova Jr.
For a fighter as hyped as much as he is, his record seems to suggest that he may not be as good as some people think. His age, though, may be a ray of hope for him, because he’s young enough to improve in the future and wait out until the best fighter in the light welterweight division, Ricky Hatton, retires, which may open the door for Ortiz at some point in the future.
As of now, I wouldn’t give him any chance of beating Hatton, Timothy Bradley or Junior Witter. It would be a tossup against Ricardo Torres and Kendall Holt.
In Ortiz’s last fight, he looked good in beating Roberto David Arrieta in September, stopping him in the 5th round and knocking him down three times in the process of winning. However, Arrieta, a good fighter, of course, isn’t in the class of a Hatton, Bradley, Holt, Torres or Witter, so it’s hard to get too excited about Ortiz’s win.
Undefeated World Boxing Organization super bantamweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez (23-0, 21 KOs) will be facing Argentinean Sergio Manuel Medina (33-1, 18 KOs) in a 12-round title bout. This time, hopefully the fight goes beyond the first round because Lopez has won two consecutive fights by first round knockouts, first against Daniel Ponce de Leon in June and then Cesar Figueroa in October.
Lopez, 21, may end up getting another knockout against Medina on Saturday night, because the Argentinean, ranked #11 in the WBO, has fought few fighters of top quality and will likely be in way over his head against Lopez.
Only 21, Lopez is already considered to be one of the top fighters in the super bantamweight division. While some are already saying that he’s the best in the division, it’s unclear whether he would be rugged enough to withstand a fight against Rafael Marquez, Celestino Caballero or Israel Vazquez, three fighters considered to be the top three in the division.
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