By Eric Thomas: Undefeated middleweight contender Daniel Jacobs (19-0, 16 KO’s) will be fighting on the undercard of the WBA light welterweight title fight between champion Amir Khan and challenger Paulie Malignaggi on May 15th against Juan Astorga (14-4-1, 9 KO’s) at Madison Square Garden, in New York. Jacobs, 23, may end being the best part of this card in the eyes of some boxing fans, as he appears to have a bright future if he can keep up the momentum that he’s built up in his short three year pro career.

Ranked #4 in the WBC, #6 by both the WBA and WBO, Jacobs is a fighter that could be going some places in a year or so, as he’ll be getting a title shot sooner or later against one of the middleweight champions due to his high ranking. Jacobs’ fight with Astorga, unfortunately, won’t be shown in its entirety, according to ESPN writer Dan Rafael, who reports that only clips of the fight will be shown.

That may be good enough, because Astorga, 31, likely won’t last long against the hard-hitting Jacobs. Astorga has been stopped four times in the past three years, losing by knockout to Joey Gilbert, Ronald Hearns, James Cook and John Duddy. In his last fight, Astorga was stopped in the 1st round by Duddy in January of this year. Jacobs hurt his hand in a 10 round unanimous decision win over Ishe Smith in August 2009.

After healing his hand for seven months, Jacobs returned with a 1st round stoppage win over Jose Miguel Rodriguez Berrio in March 2010. Jacobs will be looking to impress on the card and trying to get Astorga out of there quick. Hopefully, Jacobs starts getting matched tougher in the future, as he seems to be ready to be put in with better fighters now in the middleweight division.

Also on the same May 15th card will be former lightweight champion Nate Campbell facing off against Victor Ortiz (26-2, 21 KO’s) in light welterweight action. Campbell, 38, has his work cut out for him against the 23-year-old Ortiz. Although Ortiz was stopped in the 6th round by knockout artist Marcos Maidana last year in June, Ortiz remains a very tough customer and very strong in this weight class. Campbell, 5’7”, who was a decent sized fighter at lightweight, is now considered small for light welterweight and will have to figure out a way to compete against the harder punchers like Ortiz.