By Eric Baldwin: Trainer Abel Sanchez says Gennady Golovkin started his training camp at just 170 pounds for his fight against Daniel Jacobs on Saturday night. This is lower than what Golovkin usually weighs when he starts his camps. The lower weight that Golovkin is coming into Saturday’s Jacobs fight might be a mistake on his part, and he’s really worried. Normally, Golovkin rehydrates to around 170 for his fights. This means that he starts his training camps well above 170.
In Golovkin’s case, he was already at 165 at the 30-day mark compared to Jacobs’ 174. Last Saturday, Golovkin weighed in at 162 lbs. compared to Jacobs’ 167.8. Golovkin will make the 160 pound weight limit on Friday at the weigh-in, but he could have made a grave error in judgment in coming into the fight against Jacobs at such a low weight. With Jacobs likely to rehydrate to 175 lbs. by fight time on Saturday night, Golovkin could in theory be outweighed by as much as 15 lbs. That’s a significant amount of weight to be giving up to opponent.
We don’t know how the weight loss and the weight differential are going to impact Golovkin’s performance on Saturday night. It could be a real problem for Triple G in this fight if he doesn’t have his power and normal size to deal with Jacobs’ combination of punching power and his weight advantage.
If Golovkin doesn’t have the size to deal with Jacobs’ weight and height advantage, we could see him losing. We saw how other fighters like Saul Canelo Alvarez is able to defeat lighter fighters than himself with his weight advantage. His opposition’s shots often have no effect on him being he outweighs them. If Jacobs’ weight advantage helps him in a similar way, then he could hand Golovkin his first loss of his career.
Jacobs and his team obviously are counting on the weight being a factor in the fight, because that’s why he’s coming into the fight so heavy. With Golovkin starting his training camp so low for the Jacobs fight, he has unwittingly put himself at a big disadvantage. Golovkin may need to focus on his boxing ability if he’s unable to hurt Jacobs with his shots.
Golovkin will be fighting Jacobs on HBO pay-per-view this Saturday night on March 18 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Golovkin vs. Jacobs fight sells for $54.95 on HBO PPV television.
Super middleweight Hugo Centeno Jr. (25-1, 13 KOs) believes that Golovkin will beat Jacobs. Centeno sparred with Golovkin, and he came away from the session very impressed with his power and ring intelligence.
“Jacobs is in good shape,” said Hugo Centeno to Fino Boxing. “Triple G is a smart man. A lot of people think he’s a one dimensional fighter. But having the opportunity to spar him, he’s a lot smarter when he’s in front of you. It doesn’t seem like it because you see guys landing a couple of punches. He’s thinking and he’s setting up like it’s class. He knows exactly what he’s doing and where he’s at all the time. He knows how to set up to make knockouts happen. I wish the best for him [Jacobs]. It’s going to be a tough fight. He has to start early on. He has to stick to his game plan. I’m predicting a knockout by Golovkin. I know Jacobs is in great shape, but it’s going to be a tough, tough fight,” said Centeno.