Jacobs says Golovkin fight can happen in 1 1/2 years from now

By Boxing News - 06/27/2016 - Comments

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By Dan Ambrose: WBA World middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs (31-1, 28 KOs) says he probably won’t be facing IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) for another 1 ½ years from now. In other words, Jacobs is using the same approach as Mexican star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez to wait a year and a half before he decides to fight Golovkin. Jacobs and Canelo both seem to be calling the shots with Golovkin by saying when the fight can happen and when it can’t happen. The question is will Golovkin let himself be led by the nose by Canelo and Jacobs or will he tell them to get lost when they show interest in a year and a half from now? Golovkin might be better off telling Canelo and Jacobs that if they want to fight him, then they should work their way up the rankings to become his mandatory challenger.

Canelo and his promoters at Golden Boy believe the Canelo-Golovkin fight will be a bigger one if they let it marinate until the fall of 2017. It’ unknown if it will be bigger, especially if Canelo isn’t going to be facing the big enough names to increase his own star power. You would have to assume that Canelo isn’t getting more popular with each fight.

Canelo might be declining as a star with him fighting Amir Khan in his last fight and now Liam Smith.

Jacobs, 28, wants to wait until the money is right, because right now, he feels the fight isn’t offering the kind of money that he wants it to. Jacobs thinks that by waiting close to two more years, the fight will pay for itself. Jacobs didn’t come right out and say that he thinks it will be on HBO PPV, but that’s a possibility.

Unfortunately, it’s not likely that Jacobs’ star power will be any bigger in a year and a half from now than it is right now with the kind of match-making that’s being done for him. In the last year, Jacobs only fought decent name in Peter Quillin, who he stopped in the 1st round last December in the biggest fight of his career. Jacobs’ other fights came against Caleb Truax and Sergio Mora.

Jacobs will be fighting Mora in a rematch on July 30. There aren’t too many boxing fans excited about seeing Jacobs fight Mora a second time, because he stopped him in the 2nd round last August after Mora’s right angle gave out on him. Before the injury occurred, Jacobs was hitting Mora at will, and it looked like the fight was going to end in that round anyway. The Jacobs-Mora rematch is seen by many as a waste of time for Jacobs, because it’s a backwards career move.

“Triple G is going to come at the right time,” said Jacobs to Fighthype.com. “When it does come, it’s going to be right for me on all aspects, and that’s the only reason the fight hasn’t been made. It will happen very soon. I would say in the next year and a half or something to that effect. I want to collect belts, and then go for the gusto. It’ll be worth a lot more as opposed to just doing it right now. I’ll fight anyone in the world, and I want to fight Triple G. My thing was, I wanted to get BJ Saunders or possibly Canelo, and then go for Triple G,” said Jacobs.

When asked if he would move down in weight to fight Canelo at a catch-weight of 155 or at 154, Jacobs said, “I’m not going down. It’s just a respect thing. If I’m a champion and you’re a champion, then we’re going to do what champions do. You’re not going to have me come down. That’s a sucker move. I do what I do in the ring. I let my team take care of business. Triple G is going to come, and it’s going to come at the right time,” said Jacobs.
The World Boxing Association might force Jacobs to fight Golovkin if they order that fight. Jacobs and his adviser Al Haymon may need to make the decision whether to keep the WBA title or give it up rather than face Golovkin before the year and half time frame has elapsed. It’ll look bad if Jacobs chooses to vacate his WBA title, because that will be seen as a ducking move to avoid the Golovkin fight.

It would make sense for Jacobs to duck the Golovkin fight if he was actually going to face highly talented top fighters to build his name up more, but I doubt that’s going to happen. Jacobs is going to face Mora next, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he continues to face opposition of that caliber. Jacobs isn’t going to win over fight fans by taking over-matched old guys, and easy contenders like Truax.

“155, making guys come down, you can’t respect something like that,” said Jacobs to esnewsreporting.com. “If you’re a middleweight champion and you come down and make guys come to that weight you fight in, there’s no 155 middleweight division; right or wrong? So my thing is if you want people to respect you as a Mexican champion, then fight at 160. I was just sitting in the back with [Golovkin’s promoter] Tom Loeffler, and I’m just thinking, ‘when is fight [Golovkin vs. Jacobs] going to actually happen. You guys have to understand, I want the Triple G fight. Me and Triple G would be the best competitive middleweight fight that there is. There is no other person that has a chance to beat Triple G like I do. So, we’re waiting for that opportunity, and I’m wanting that opportunity, but it just has to happen at the right time, because I’m not going to fight Triple G for chump change. I’m telling you that right now. So when the money gets right and the opportunity gets right, let’s do it for when everything is worth it. How much is it going to take? It’s just going to take for me to get comfortable. He’s the guy to beat, right? I understand that. I’m still second to Golovkin because he’s been in the game longer than I have. He’s sat at his spot a little longer than I have, so I respect the game. But in the same breath, offer me the right money and we can do this yesterday. They’re not offering me the right money now. So it’s like let’s build up until it gets to a certain platform so it will pay for itself,” said Jacobs.

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It is a negative that Canelo was fighting at a catch-weight of 155lbs, but I don’t think he’s going to do that any longer. He’s now dropping to 154 to face WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith for his title on September 17 on HBO. I’m not sure if Canelo can make the weight for that fight, but if he does, I can see him holding onto the title and staying there as long as he can until the GGG fight takes place in the fall of next year.