By Jeff Aranow: Daniel Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs) could prove to be the toughest test of IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin’s career, according to his trainer Abel Sanchez. Golovkin will be facing Jacobs on March 18 on HBO pay-per-view at Madison Square Garden in New York. Sanchez thinks that Jacobs will a difficult opponent because of his punching power, speed and athleticism, and he’s looking forward to the fight.
Sanchez is happy that Golovkin is finally facing someone with punching power for a change. However, Jacobs is far from the first big puncher Golovkin has faced in his 12-year pro career. He’s been in with David Lemieux and Curtis Stevens.
Those guys have arguably better punching power than Jacobs. Golovkin took some shots from them, and was able to knock both of them out without many problems.
“He is the most gifted fighter and athletic fighter that Gennady has fought,” Sanchez stated “It’s going to be the toughest test for Gennady,” Sanchez said to Fightnews.com. “The difference in this fight my guy is a better fighter,” Sanchez said. “We have a lot of respect for him. Now he has a guy in front of him that can punch.”
Sanchez must feel that with Jacobs being a puncher, it’s going to put him right in the target range of Triple G’s big power shots. In Golovkin’s last fight against Kell Brook, he had chase him around the ring for five rounds before Brook’s trainer wised up and threw in the towel to save him from getting further injured.
Even if Jacobs wanted to try and get away from Golovkin, he doesn’t have the quick enough feet to get away from him. That’s the main problem. He’s going to have stand and fight, and that’s the reason why this is a great match-up for Golovkin. He does well against guys that want to fight him. Jacobs is too far along with his boxing career for him to change his fighting style.
“Everyone wants a big KO. I like Big Drama Show. This is boxing,” Golovkin said to fightnews.com. “I know I have a good opponent Jacobs is a champion, he is a true middleweight. Jacobs is a big guy and he had a lot of amateur experience, his speed and power is very serious,” said Golovkin.
This may not be the toughest test of Golovkin’s career. It could turn out to be one of the easiest ones of his career unless Jacobs’ chin has improved since losing to Pirog seven years ago.
Jacobs may not be too happy with Golovkin turning the fight into a drama show. The last time that Jacobs fought good opponent in a drama show, he was knocked out by Dmitri Pirog in 2010. Jacobs stopped Peter Quillin in the 1st round in 2015, but he was never really tested by anyone good during his career. We saw how limited Quillin is when he fought Andy Lee and was dropped and arguably beaten. The judges scored the fight a 1 round draw, but it was all Andy Lee from the second half of the fight.