By Allan Fox: Daniel Jacobs is predicting that he’ll knockout Saul “Canelo” Alvarez when the time comes for them to face each other inside the ring in the future. Jacobs (32-2, 29 KOs) thinks Canelo is too small for him, and he believes he’ll beat him easier than Gennady “GGG” Golovkin did.
Jacobs has watched the Canelo-Golovkin fight twice, and he had Golovkin winning by 3 rounds. Jacobs was surprised the Canelo-GGG fight was scored as a draw, because he said it wasn’t even close to being a draw. It was a clear win for Golovkin. However, Jacobs he’s not sure if Golovkin will be able to beat Canelo in the rematch. He thinks the fight will come down to whoever adjusts.
Jacobs signed with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Sport in the UK, and his fights will now be televised on HBO Boxing in the U.S. Jacobs believes Hearn will turn him into a superstar in the UK, and HBO will make him a star in the U.S. Jacobs sees HBO opening the door for him to get fights against Canelo, Golovkin and David Lemieux.
“I think Golovkin pulled it off,” said Jacobs to secondsout.com in talking about the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight. “I think if there was a rematch [against GGG] or if I stood in line with Canelo, it would be a different show. I’m the best middleweight in the world, and with this new move, I’m moving forward to display that on a bigger scale,” said Jacobs.
Jacobs has a shaky chin his entire pro career. I’m not sure if Jacobs can KO Canelo. That would require Jacobs getting close enough to land one of his shots. Jacobs doesn’t knockout guys with one hand. It usually requires a flurry of shots for Jacobs to knockout his opponents. Jacobs would leave himself open to being countered by Canelo if he throws a flurry. It would be dangerous for Jacobs to try and get a stoppage.
Jacobs was knocked out by Dmitry Pirog in 2010. Jacobs also lost to Golovkin by a 12 round unanimous decision on March 18; although Jacobs claims he did enough to win the fight, and he feels he’ll beat Golovkin in the rematch if there ever is one. Boxing News 24 had Golovkin beating Jacobs. Jacobs lost 6 rounds and he was dropped in round 4. That was enough for Golovkin to win the fight. Jacobs has been hurt the likes of Sergio Mora, Ishe Smith, Golovkin and Michael Walker. Jacobs’ punch resistance is suspect. He does not take a good shot unfortunately.
Jacobs might have lucked out by Golovkin choosing to jab him from the distance instead of going after him the way he’d done against most of the guys he’s faced. Had Golovkin used the Pirog blueprint, there’s a good possibility that Jacobs would have been knocked out. Jacobs does well when his opponents box him. He doesn’t do well when he gets hard. He’s had that same problem since his amateur days. Matt Korobov beat Jacobs in the amateurs by attacking him all out the way that Pirog did later. Golovkin failed to follow the blueprint created by Korovbov, and he made his fight with Jacobs a lot tougher than it should have been. Jacobs gives ground when he’s attacked, and he loses power on his shots when he gets flustered.
Canelo and Golden Boy could choose to make Jacobs wait a while before they give him a shot. That seems to be their style. They’re not likely to give Jacobs a fight just because he’s calling them out and claiming he’ll KO Canelo. Jacobs needs to build his profile, because he’s been matched in an erratic way during his career. The match-making that’s been done for Jacobs has kept him from realizing his potential unfortunately. There has been too many soft opponents put in with Jacobs, and he’s wasted a lot of his career in being matched against lower level guys that have done nothing to increase his popularity.
All the big fights are on HBO. You have Canelo, Triple G, all the big fighters are locked on with HBO, all the guys I want to fight and I want to go after,” said Jacobs. ”[HBO] are willing to push me to the max. I’m pretty sure I’m going to have a big fan base, because they’re going to promote me in the UK. I can be a bigger star. Canelo didn’t show me anything that I didn’t do first. All credit to Canelo. I think he’s a hell of a champion. He went out there and fought his heart out as best as he could. I don’t think he got the victory or came close to a draw, but it’s a totally different game in there [with me]. I’m a full-fledged middleweight. I’d stop Canelo. I really feel like I can go in there and get the job done. Size matters in boxing. It’s different, and I do see myself stopping Canelo,” said Jacobs.
Jacobs can knock out Canelo, but I don’t see it happening. Jacobs is too timid when it comes to taking risks. We’ve seen that in many of Jacobs’s fights. The only time he hasn’t been timid in recent fights was when he hurt Peter Quillin in the 1st round. It was an easy thing for Jacobs to go after Quillin after he got hurt. Jacobs was also aggressive against Sergio Mora, who can’t punch and is old. That was a no risk fight for Jacobs.
As far as Jacobs getting aggressive against the guys that punch, he’s not aggressive. Jacobs fights scared, and he gives up easy at trying to score knockouts when he gets nailed. Jacobs is more of a boxer than a puncher. HBO might have made a mistake in thinking he can become a star. I don’t think he can. Jacobs doesn’t have the chin and nor the courage for him to fight in an exciting enough manner for him to become a star. I don’t see Jacobs beating Golovkin in a rematch, and I think Canelo will knock him out.
I rate Jacobs behind these fighters at middleweight:
1. Gennady Golovkin
2. Canelo Alvarez
3. Sergiy Derevyanchenko
4. Jermall Charlo
5. Danny Jacobs
6. David Lemieux
I think Charlo would KO Jacobs just based on him willing to let his hands go in the opening rounds of the fight. By the time Jacobs realizes he’s going to have to go to war against Charlo to win, he’d likely be knocked out. Charlo doesn’t wait on an opponent. He goes after them right away. That’s a bad style for Jacobs. Derevyanchenko is too rugged for Jacobs. He does everything that Korovbov used to do in the amateur ranks.
Jacobs did poorly against Korobov. Lemieux vs. Jacobs is a tossup fight. If Lemieux lands his left hook in round 1, it’s over. Jacobs’ chin is far too weak for him to take any of Lemieux’s left hooks if they land flush. This could be a real wipeout for Lemieux. HBO Boxing shouldn’t get their hopes up too high with Jacobs.
If they did their homework right, they’d realize why Jacobs has never become a star in boxing. He failed when he tried to step it up years ago against Pirog, and he failed against Golovkin. Golovkin probably could have knocked Jacobs out in the 4th round after knocking him down, but he backed off. Golovkin seems to be suffering some confidence issues since his win over Kell Brook in 2016. Golovkin should have finished off Jacobs and he should have knocked out Canelo. He didn’t go after either of them. The guy needs to have someone sit him down and find out why he’s holding back now instead of fighting to his potential.
“The fights that I want, I’m going to be able to get those fights with Triple G, Canelo, Lemieux, all those fights,” said Jacobs to Villianfy Media. “I got the opportunity. I watched it again. I thought Triple G won by 3 rounds. It was a real close fight. Like I said before, I thought he did enough to win. Styles make fights. I’m a bigger guy than Triple G. I’m taller and much longer. I think if we were to fight, it wouldn’t be an even more decisive victory in my favor,” said Jacobs about him beating Canelo. “I think Canelo is a really talented guy, but he and Triple G were the same size. I’m a completely different fighter. He can take a shot. I’m not surprised because he has a good chin. I’m looking forward to dishing it out. HBO is looking to display me. They want to promote me the best way possible. They’re looking at making me a superstar. I’d love a Miguel Cotto fight. It might be too risky for him to fight me in his last fight. I don’t see that happening. I think I’m going to stay busier. The fans are going to have an opportunity to see me more frequently,” said Jacobs.
Jacobs talks like he’s coming down from up high. His loss to Golovkin seems have done something to his ego o make him overvalue himself. I just hope he doesn’t take it too hard once he starts losing again. Jacobs might lose his next fight against Luis Arias (19-0, 9 KOs) on November 11 in New York. Arias has a very good chance of knocking out Jacobs. I won’t be shocked at all, because I’ve seen Arias fight and I’ve seen Jacobs fight dozens of times.
The 6’1” Jacobs really should be fighting in the super middleweight division. The guy is huge for the middleweight division, and I’m not just talking about his height. I’m talking about Jacobs’ weight. He melts down to fight guys that are lighter than him at middleweight. Some boxing fans see Jacobs as a weight bully, and they think he’s afraid to fight guys his own size at super middleweight.
Once Jacobs moves up in weight to the 168 lb. division, he’ll need to focus more on his boxing skills rather than using his size to win fights. I’ll be surprised if Jacobs can stay at middleweight his entire career, but you never know. Some guys are just incredibly good at draining water weight to get down to a weight that is far below their normal weight. It’s just lucky for guys like Jacobs that boxing no longer has same say weigh-ins, because that would likely put a stop to Jacobs fighting at middleweight. It’s too bad the sport doesn’t have weigh-ins right before the fighters step into the ring. That’s the only way to keep guys in their proper weight classes. Even with same day weigh-ins, you’d likely see fighters trying to still gain an advantage by rehydrating as fast as they can.
“It’s now a toss-up fight,” said Jacobs about the Canelo vs. Golovkin rematch. “The first fight really wasn’t a close fight, but it was competitive. I don’t know if anyone will make adjustments in the future. I want both guys. All I can do is focus on myself,” said Jacobs.
I think Golovkin will beat Canelo in the rematch. However, I’m not sure that Golovkin will get the win if it goes to the scorecards again. That’s a different thing. It’s not easy to get a decision over Canelo, as Golovkin, Erislandy Lara and Austin Trout have all found out.
