Daniel Jacobs’ trainer wants Billy Joe Saunders fight

By Boxing News - 12/24/2017 - Comments

Image: Daniel Jacobs’ trainer wants Billy Joe Saunders fight

By Jeff Aranow: Trainer Andre Rozier thinks it’ll be a much different story for WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders if he elects to face his fighter Daniel ‘Miracle Man’ Jacobs in his next fight compared to his last contest against former IBF 160lb champion David Lemieux.

Rozier says the mobility, speed and athleticism of the 30-year-old Jacobs would make for a far more different fight for Saunders than what he dealt with against Lemieux.

Unfortunately, Saunders has already dismissed the idea of fighting Jacobs. Saunders sees Jacobs as not being popular fighter, who brings nothing to the table. Saunders is not interested in fighting Jacobs in the U.S, but he does say he would face him if he’s given 5 million pounds [$6.7 million U.S dollars] to take the fight. That’s a textbook way of Saunders saying he’s not interested in facing Jacobs. The reason why Saunders doesn’t fancy the job of fighting Jacobs is obvious. Saunders has a chance to possibly fight the winner of the Saul Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin rematch on May 5.

There are 2 very good reasons why Saunders has a decent chance to fight the Canelo-Golovkin winner. The first reason is Saunders has the WBO belt that GGG and possibly Canelo would be interested in winning. The second reason is the fact that Saunders is unquestionably the far easier target for the Canelo vs. Golovkin winner to face than if they were to fight the risky contenders in the 160 lb. division like Jermall Charlo, Jacobs and Sergey Derevyanchenko. Those are 3 VERY tough fighters.

Even if Canelo and Golovkin beat those guys, those will be grueling fights. In contrast, you’ve got finesse fighter Saunders, who lacks any real punching power to speak of. There’s less of a threat for Canelo and Golovkin to face Saunders than if they had to go through Jacobs, Charlo or Derevyanchenko. Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez is cool to the idea of him fighting Charlo. Sanchez says they’re going to wait until the World Boxing Council orders GGG to fight Charlo, and he believes that won’t happen for at least another year.

Golovkin will likely have moved up in weight to 168 by the time the WBC gets around to ordering him to fight Charlo. The threat level in facing Saunders is arguably much lower for Canelo and Golovkin than the harsh alternatives in having to fight Charlo, Jacobs or Derevyanchenko.

“Things would look different if Danny fought BJ,” Rozier said to badlefthook.com. “Those are two different athletes, and Danny is definitely far more mobile, a whole lot faster, he’s just more of a multi-faceted athlete.”

Of course, it would be a different story for Saunders to fight Jacobs compared to Lemieux.

Jacobs has these advantages:

• Hand speed

• Foot speed

• Mobility

• Ring IQ

• Experience

Besides those things, Jacobs has the better amateur background than Lemieux, who is still learning on the job as a pro.

It’s widely expected that Saunders will milk his WBO title until he gets the winner of the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight. If neither of those fighters choose to fight Saunders due to his spoiling style of fighting, then that’s going to leave him in the position where he’ll eventually need to fight the likes of Jacobs. The World Boxing Organization will move Jacobs to No.1 sooner or later if he keeps winning. Saunders will then have to deal with him whether he likes it or not unless he wants to vacate his WBO title.

”If it could be made, we’d love it,” said Rozier about the Saunders vs. Jacobs fight.

It’s probably pointless for Rozier to talk about the Saunders-Jacobs fight. It doesn’t look like a realistic option. Saunders has already voiced his opinion on a fight against Jacobs, and he’s made it abundantly clear that he’s not interested in fighting him unless he’s given $6.7 million. Saunders probably won’t even get that kind of money fighting Canelo and Golovkin. That tells you how reluctant Saunders is in facing Jacobs. The danger level for Saunders in fighting a talent like Jacobs would be extremely high, because he wouldn’t be able to count on using his foot speed to elude him the way he did against Lemieux. Saunders would have to stand and fight at some point. If he didn’t have the talent to beat Jacobs in a man to man fight, he’d lose. It’s as simple as that. In boxing, it’s survival of the fittest. The clever fighters often make sure they avoid fighting the best unless it’s a situation where they’re going to get so much money that it doesn’t matter if they lose the fight. That’s Saunders’ situation. He’s not going to take a risky fight with Jacobs because the potential would be there for him to lose the fight. Saunders is going to wait for his cash out opportunity to face the winner of the Canelo-Golovkin fight. Jacobs is obviously the last guy that Saunders is thinking of fighting right now.

When Saunders does fight in early 2018, he’s expected to face a non-threat. He’ll likely choose to face a fringe contender that has no chance of beating him. The fight is supposed to take place in the UK, so that means Saunders will probably face a British fighter rather than someone from outside of the country. The only British contenders in the 160 lb. division at this time are Tommy Langford, Gary O’Sullivan, Andy Lee and Martin Murray. Lee won’t be chosen because he almost beat Saunders in 2015. Lee is too dangerous to be selected for Saunders in a voluntary defense. Murray is probably too tough as well, although he’s clearly a very beatable guy due to his advanced age. Langford is likely the guy that Saunders will fight. Langford is rated #13 WBO, he can’t punch, and he was recently knocked out by Avtandil Khurtsidze. Langford is perfect for Saunders. O’Sullivan hits too hard for him to get the fight with Saunders. O’Sullivan would be too dangerous for Saunders to pick in a voluntary defense. It doesn’t matter that O’Sullivan is slow of foot and hand. He’s still a risky fight for Saunders. All it would take is one big shot from O’Sullivan to separate Saunders from his senses and remove him from the Canelo and Golovkin sweepstakes. My prediction is Saunders will take Langford for his next fight. He’s recognizable to the British boxing fans, and a decent crowd will show up to see the fight if only because of the hype being generated from BJ’s win over Lemieux.