By Dan Ambrose: Former world title challenger Willie Monroe Jr. thinks Daniel Jacobs should stay on the inside when he fights IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin on March 18 on HBO PPV. Monroe fought Golovkin in 2015, and he was stopped in the 6th round. Monroe says that he had his best success against Golovkin in round 4 and 5 when he was fighting in close.
Monroe was also taking a lot of punishment from Golovkin. It appeared that Monroe was getting the worst of it. He was definitely landing, but Golovkin was landing the harder shots that were getting the reaction from the crowd.
“Danny’s a big middleweight, and he can crack,” said Monroe to Fighthype.com about Daniel Jacobs. “It should make for a great fight. Just do his thing, and do what he naturally does. Don’t let the moment get to you, and stay close,” said Monroe when asked what his advice would be for Jacobs to beat Golovkin.
The advice that Monroe is giving Jacobs sounds good on the surface. The problem is Jacobs is not a good inside fighter. He’s more of a guy that does his best work at medium distance from his opponents. If Jacobs tries to fight Golovkin on the inside, he’ll be forced to eat a lot of heavy shots to the head and body from Golovkin.
Jacobs might not last long on the inside with Golovkin teeing off on him. Jacobs would be smothering his own power if he stayed in close. It could lead to him getting knocked out quickly, especially if Golovkin hits him with one of his looping power shots that comes down onto the top of his head.
“When I fought Golovkin, the 4th and 5th rounds are when I got my best work in,” said Monroe. “I was close. I stayed close and fought him. I had no choice. I couldn’t move on him. They’re both good fighters. Gennady Golovkin is a tremendous fighter. So is Danny Jacobs. They’re good fighters,” said Monroe.
If Jacobs had good punch resistance, then the advice that Monroe is giving him would be sound advice. However, Jacobs doesn’t seem to take shots very well at all. I rate Monroe as having better punch resistance than Jacobs, and he only lasted 6 rounds against Golovkin. If Jacobs stays on the inside against Golovkin, he’ll lose his only chance of winning the fight. Jacobs needs to stay at medium range for him to have any chance against Golovkin.
Monroe was knocked down three times by Golovkin. Monroe was down twice in the 2nd round and a final time in round 6. Monroe didn’t want continue fighting after getting dropped in the 6th. If Jacobs chooses to brawl with Golovkin the way that Monroe did, we could see an early exit from Jacobs.
Golovkin is going to be sitting down on his shots looking to get Jacobs out of there as fast as possible. He’s not going to let Jacobs hang around like he did with Monroe, because there’s a lot riding on this fight. Golovkin needs an impressive stoppage win to keep the pressure on Saul Canelo Alvarez to fight him.
