Hearn pushing for Golovkin vs. Jacobs 2 if no Canelo-GGG rematch

By Boxing News - 11/16/2017 - Comments

Image: Hearn pushing for Golovkin vs. Jacobs 2 if no Canelo-GGG rematch

By Scott Gilfoid: Danny Jacobs’ promoter Eddie Hearn is hoping that K2 promoter Tom Loeffler will use his fighter as a backup plan for IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) if his rematch with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fails to take place in the first quarter of next year.

Canelo and his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions seem to be ambivalent about the Canelo-GGG rematch for some reason. It could be fear on their part or perhaps the desire to make as much money as possible taking other fights before facing the dangerous GGG a second time. Canelo looked terrible against Golovkin for most of the fight, and he was quite lucky to escape with a 12 round draw instead of a fairly lopsided loss.

It would be a bad idea for Jacobs to fight Golovkin a second, as it’s going to be a much different fight next time. Golovkin won’t be looking for a “decision fight” like he was the last time he fought Jacobs on March 18. Golovkin will be more interested in following the Dmitry Pirog blueprint by pressuring Jacobs and hitting him as hard as he can until he drops for the 10 count.

If Jacobs gets knocked out, Hearn is going to be stuck trying to rebuild him for the next 3 or 4 fights after that. I’m sure that’s not what Hearn had in mind when he signed the 30-year-old Jacobs. Hearn thinks he’s got the best middleweight in the division in Jacobs, and he’s hoping he can build him into that. But if Hearn puts Jacobs in with Golovkin right now, there’s a very good possibility that he’ll get knocked out by the Kazakhstan fighter.

Hearn will use up the remaining fights of his multi-fight contract trying to rebuild Jacobs rather than him as a champion. It’s unclear what HBO will do if Jacobs gets knocked out. Do they let Jacobs loose or do they keep him on until the end of his contract?

Jacobs, 30, was in action last Saturday night in beating contender Luis Arias (18-1, 9 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision in Uniondale, New York. HBO Boxing televised the fight as part of Jacobs’ first match with the network. Jacobs and Hearn believe HBO will help them get the fights they crave against Golovkin, Saul Canelo Alvarez and David Lemieux. We’ll have to see if that’s the case. It didn’t help Golovkin get a fight Canelo, did it? It took 2 years and massive amounts of pressure from the boxing public for Canelo and Golden Boy Promotions to finally relent and make the fight with GGG. HBO wasn’t the one that led to Canelo finally taking that fight. It was done more by pressure from the fans, as well as GGG not looking good in his last 2 fights prior to that.

“I said to Tom Loeffler the other day, ‘Listen, if Canelo-Golovkin doesn’t happen, we’re ready to go with Jacobs-GGG II,” Hearn said to Inside Boxing Live podcast. “We want to get our date, know that Danny Jacobs can have four, five weeks off with his family, enjoy his Christmas and get straight back into camp.”

It might be better for Hearn to back off with him badgering Loeffler about the Jacobs rematch so much. Loeffler already understands that Hearn wants the rematch against his fighter, and he’s starting to come across as kind of needy. On the one hand Hearn says he wants to create his own destiny and make the top fighters want to chase him, but on the other hand he’s still chasing GGG and David Lemieux. Hearn is terrible at following what he says.

If Hearn wants Jacobs to really create his own path, then he needs stop calling out Golovkin and start fighting some good opposition for a change. Apart from a few good opponents, Jacobs’ resume is dreadful, filled mostly 2nd and 3rd tier opposition. If Hearn could match Jacobs against some talented guys and not waste his career matching him against guys like Luis Arias, then he might be able to create real pressure from the boxing public on GGG and Canelo to want to fight his guy. Right now, Hearn is matching Jacobs weakly by putting him in with Arias, and then calling out Golovkin, as if he’s earned the rematch. Hearn is going about getting the rematch with Golovkin the wrong way.

“I think that’s important for any fighter, to have a strategy and a plan and a schedule, rather than just waiting for a call that might take three or four months to come,” said Hearn. “That’s very disheartening to be so inactive, and the plan with Danny Jacobs is to be as busy as possible.”

Hearn wants Jacobs to fight in April, and he hopes that he’ll get the David Lemieux vs. Billy Joe Saunders winner of their fight on December 16. Hearn is likely wasting his time on that avenue as well, considering that Saunders and Lemieux are interested in fighting Canelo and/or Golovkin. They haven’t been talking a lot about wanting to fight Jacobs. Saunders said that he would be open to the idea of fighting Jacobs if Hearn shows him the money, but it’s likely going to be difficult for him to dig up the money for a Jacobs-Saunders fight. That’s not a PPV fight in England.

Hearn can’t stick Jacobs vs. Saunders on Sky Box Office PPV and expect the British boxing fans to gleefully purchase the fight. The fans won’t care that Hearn recently added Jacobs to his Matchroom Sport stable. I doubt that a fight between Jacobs and Saunders brings in even 1,000 buys on Sky Box Office. Jacobs likely doesn’t stand much of a chance to fight the winner of the Lemieux vs. Saunders fight. Jacobs still isn’t a big name, and his fight with Arias wasn’t that entertaining. Jacobs fought too timidly, and he failed to get the knockout.

Jacobs needs to fight these guys if he wants to carve his name in the boxing world:

• Sergey Derevyanchenko

• Jermall Charlo

• Jermell Charlo

• Erislandy Lara

• Tureano Johnson

• Demetrius Andrade

• Ryota Murata

• Chris Eubank Jr.

• Callum Smith

• James DeGale

• David Benavidez

• Gilberto Ramirez

• George Groves

I included some super middleweights and a couple of junior middleweights, because Jacobs needs to be able to expand his horizons from just the 160-lb. division if he wants to be able to increase his popularity in a hurry. If Jacobs can’t get guys like Jermall Charlo, Andrade and Derevyanchenko to fight him in April of next year, then he should look to get fighters from the 154 or 168 lb. division.

If Hearn makes a big offer, he might be able to get the likes of Jermell Charlo, Lara, Groves, Eubank Jr., DeGale or Ramirez o agree to fight Jacobs. Of course, if Hearn doesn’t want Jacobs to risk getting beaten again, then he should stick with what he’s doing now in matching him fringe contenders like Arias while calling out GGG.

Frankly, I don’t think Hearn is serious about wanting Jacobs to create his own destiny by fighting the best contenders possible to force the better fighters like Golovkina and Canelo to fight him. I think Hearn is more interested in matching Jacobs against sure thing soft opponents, and then calling out the top guys after those fights. It’s pretty much what Hearn did with Anthony Joshua. He matched him against weak opponents and then got him a title shot against the weakest of the heavyweight champions in Charles Martin. The rest is history.

“I think the winner of [Saunders-Lemieux] fight against Danny Jacobs is a natural fight as well,” said Hearn. “Our concern is if Lemieux wins, they’ll try and hold him up for the winner of Canelo and Golovkin. We want to be in control of our own destiny.”

It sounds like a pipe dream on Hearn’s part in hoping that the winner of the Saunders vs. Lemieux fight will want to face Jacobs. That’s not going to happen. That’s like the same crazy idea Hearn has been throwing around about WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder fighting Dillian Whyte to get a fight with Joshua.

Hearn wouldn’t let go of that idea despite Wilder letting him know repeatedly that he had no interest in fighting Whyte to get a match with Joshua. Hearn is just getting Jacobs’ hopes up for nothing by name dropping Golovkin, Saunders and Lemieux repeatedly. Hearn needs to be realistic and drop names that Jacobs has a real chance of fighting in April like Jermall Charlo and Derevyanchenko. If Hearn doesn’t want Jacobs to fight either of them, then I can understand that. Hearn doesn’t want to put Jacobs in any risky fights until he can get a fight against GGG or the Lemieux vs. Saunders winning. If that’s what the idea is, then Hearn needs to stop spouting stuff about Jacobs creating his own destiny, because he’s clearly not going that. Jacobs is chasing the more popular fighters around and looking needy.

Jacobs is a pretty good fighter, but his career has largely been wasted by him being matched against mediocre fighters. It was thought that Hearn would change the direction of Jacobs’ match-making when he recently signed him, but unfortunately that’s not happening. Hearn put Jacobs in with a fringe level fighter in Luis Arias in his first fight with him rather than matching him against a good opponent.