By Jim Dower: Daniel Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs) does not plan on winding up as Gennady “GGG” Golovkin’s 24th consecutive knockout victim this Saturday night in their fight on HBO pay-per-view. Jacobs has designs on either knocking Golovkin out or winning a 12 round unanimous decision in an impression manner.
Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez says that Jacobs makes it the full 12 rounds on Saturday night, he’s going to take a beating. Jacobs would need to dish out punishment at the same rate or better than the punishment that he’s absorbing from Golovkin. Jacobs has never been the type of fighter that took a heavy bombardment over time. He’s only fought a small handful of good fighters during his career in Peter Quillin, Ishe Smith, Dmitri Pirog and Sergio Mora. Those four are by far the best fighters that Jacobs has fought during his 10-year pro career.
Golovkin has been training hard with super middleweight contender David Benavidez, a fighter with incredible punching power in both hands. What Golovkin will be facing on Saturday night against Jacobs pales at the kind of power that he was dealing with during his sparring sessions with Benavidez. Still, Jacobs has better hand speed than Benavidez, and it’s going to be a different experience for Golovkin to be fighting a fighter as talented as him on Saturday night.
“If Daniel Jacobs can stick around for 12 rounds, he’s going to be punished for 12 rounds,” Sanchez said via Lance Pugmire’s social media site.
Jacobs will need to make sure his defense is on point this Saturday night if he’s to go the full 12 round distance with Golovkin. It’s not easy to go 12 round distance against anyone in the sport of boxing, but it’s a different story when you have to go 12 rounds against a knockout artist like Golovkin. Jacobs will need a strategy to keep Golovkin from throwing his punches. We saw light heavyweight Andre Ward use a strategy of constant holding and wrestling of former IBF/WBA/WBO champion Sergey Kovalev last November to win a 12 round decision. Kovalev didn’t have the inside fighting ability that Golovkin has going for him. Jacobs will need a different plan if his main objective is to shutdown Golovkin’s offense so that he can’t throw punches.
Jacobs doesn’t believe that he’ll take punishment from Golovkin if the fight goes the distance. Jacobs plans on using a strategy of boxing and slugging with Triple G to beat him. During the times that Jacobs, 29, elects to stand and punch with Golovkin, he’ll need to keep his guard up to defend the big power shots from him. Jacobs believes that he can block or avoid Golovkin’s best punches to win the fight. If the Golovkin-Jacobs fight does turn into a 12 round beating for Jacobs, then it’s going to be bad news for his chances of winning. Jacobs hasn’t proven in the past that he can win a 12 round war.
Golovkin has only gone the distance on 3 occasions during his 10-year pro career. Some boxing would say that the reason for this is because he’s not faced anyone in the class of Jacobs, which is true. Golovkin has not fought an opponent with the combination of boxing skills and power that Jacobs has going for him. On the flipside, Jacobs hasn’t faced anyone with Golovkin’s skillset other than Dmitri Pirog, who knocked him out in 5 rounds in 2010.
“Knockouts come because he’s not wasting his punches,” Sanchez said to the latimes.com. “He’s got heavy hands, but he puts his punches where he wants to. He’s very economical. It’s more like a chess match. It’s my belief to emphasize the knockout, either one punch or wear them out … you want to take the question out of [the outcome].”
Golovkin was a punching machine in his last fight against Kell Brook on September 10 last year. Golovkin was pursuing Brook all around the ring for 5 rounds, hitting him wherever he could with his power shots. Brook did a fine job of countering Golovkin with punches, but he wasn’t able to get a lot of power on his shots because he was moving so much. If Jacobs uses the same style as Brook, then he’s going to have a hard time keeping Golovkin off of him.
“I know I’m ready, 100 percent,” said Golovkin.
Jacobs needs to bring his A-game on Saturday night for him to beat Golovkin. It wouldn’t hurt if Jacobs explodes on Golovkin in the 1st round like he did against Peter Quillin. It might be Jacobs’ only chance of getting his shots off before he’s knocked out. If Jacobs takes his time and tries to box Golovkin, he could get clipped by one of his big punches and knocked out or stunned bad enough to where he can’t defend himself. Golovkin is good at mixing up the power on his shots so that his opponents don’t use to getting hit with the same kind of power. Golovkin will suddenly load up on a big shot that catches his opponents by surprise. Jacobs might have problems taking even the moderately hard punches by Golovkin.
This is going to be an interesting fight for while it lasts. If Jacobs can go the full 12 rounds, it’ll be the first time in Golovkin’s career that he’s had to go the full 12 round distance. The longest fight that Golovkin has had since turning pro was against Kassim Ouma in 2011, and that was a real grueling fight for both guys. Golovkin ended up stopping Ouma in the 10th round. Golovkin’s fighting style has changed under the tutelage of trainer Abel Sanchez. Golovkin is now more of a body puncher than he was when he fought Ouma. It makes Golovkin a lot more dangerous because it forces his opponents to defend their body as well as their head.
Golovkin and Jacobs will be fighting on HBO pay-per-view this Saturday night. The cost to purchase the fight is $54.95 to see it on television. The Golovkin-Jacobs undercard is pretty well stacked with talent, as WBC super flyweight champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (46-0, 38 KOs) will be defending his title against a very big puncher in Wisaksil Wangek (41-4-1, 38 KOs). This fight could be the fight of the night. Wangek is not someone who will fold easily when he meets resistance, and he’s a better puncher than Gonzalez. Wangek is not a combination puncher like Roman Gonzalez, but he’s still very dangerous because of his heavy hands. Like I said, Gonzalez vs. Wangek could wind up as the most crowd-pleasing fight of the night.
Golovkin vs. Jacobs is a great fight on paper, but there’s also a very good chance that the fight ends early due to Triple G’s knockout ability. Gonzalez will have a hard time trying to knockout Wangek, because he takes a good shot. Former WBC super flyweight champion Carlos Cuadras (35-1-1, 27 KOs) will be fighting David Carmona (20-3-5, 8 KOs). This is a fight that potentially sets up a rematch between Roman Gonzalez and Cuadras. The two fought each other last year in an exciting 12 round fight that saw Gonzalez win.
Cuadras’s face was unmarked at the end of the fight, whereas Gonzalez’s face was badly lumped up. Gonzalez outworked Cuadras in landing more punches, and doing a better job in winning the rounds. Cuadras’ heavy hands and eye-catching combinations were impressive to watch. If he wasn’t fighting someone as talented as Gonzalez, he would have won.