By Allan Fox: Daniel Jacobs (35-2, 29 KOs) says he’ll offer Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin a rematch despite him not offering a rematch after their controversial decision win last year.
The way that Jacobs describes it, Golovkin’s career is in a bleak position right now, all because of his inability to beat Saul Canelo Alvarez, and with HBO getting out of the boxing business.
Jacobs, 31, states that Golovkin has no options now after his loss to Saul Canelo Alvarez last September, and that if he wants a big fight, he’ll need to sign with DAZN. Jacobs is on the verge of signing with DAZN, and Demetrius Andrade and Canelo are now both with the streaming company.
Jacobs won the IBF middleweight title last Saturday night in beating Sergiy Derevyanchenko by a 12 round unanimous decision at Madison Square Garden in New York. The fight was shown on HBO World Championship Boxing.
“I said I would give him a rematch, because I’m champion now,” Jacobs said about GGG. “Now it’s more reward than risk, because before he wouldn’t give me a rematch. I wouldn’t give me a rematch either if I was Golovkin, to be honest with you,” Jacobs said.
Jacobs’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing USA/DZAN has tunnel vision right now, only seeing a fight against Saul Canelo Alvarez for Danny next May on Cinco de Mayo. Hearn says he likes the Golovkin rematch for Jacobs, but Canelo is the fight that he’s interested in more. That’s not surprising though, as Canelo is the bigger star than Golovkin, and he’s signed with DAZN and coming off of a win over the Kazakhstan fighter. Putting Jacobs back inside the with Golovkin might be a bad idea right now, because there would be a ton of risk for Danny in taking that fight. It doesn’t matter that Jacobs fought well in the second part of the fight with Golovkin in March 2017. The fact is Jacobs fought the best he could and he still lose. Jacobs was on the move throughout the fight and showed no interest in standing and trading with Golovkin for any length of time.
GGG’s promoter Tom Loeffler hasn’t decided which network his fighter will be signing with. ESPN, DAZN, Showtime and an unnamed platform have spoken to Loeffler about signing GGG.
“Now there’s almost nowhere for him to go,” Jacobs said about GGG. “From what I’m hearing, if he doesn’t sign with DAZN, he’s not going to get any of the big fights that he truly wants,” Jacobs said.
If GGG doesn’t sign with DAZN, he’ll be fine as long as he inks with Premier Boxing Champions to have his fights televised on Fox and Showtime. If Golovkin signs with PBC, he’d be in the position to fight the likes of Jermall Charlo, Jarrett Hurd, Erislandy Lara and Jermell Charlo. It’s not quite the same as Golovkin being able to fight Canelo, but those other guys are equal to Jacobs in terms of popularity. Hurd and the Charlo brothers are arguably better fighters than Jacobs at this point. Golovkin would be fine having his fights televised on Fox and Showtime. Signing with ESPN would open up fights for Golovkin against Jaime Munguia and Rob Brant.
“We’ll see what happens in the near future in my career,” said Jacobs. “I’m in a good position. I’m in the best position of my career. You guys are going to see what happens in the near future of my career,” Jacobs said.
If Hearn doesn’t get Jacobs a fight against Canelo Alvarez in 2019, it’s going to be a big setback, because that’s all they’ve been talking about. It’s as if Hearn believes that Jacobs winning the IBF title is going to be the magic key to getting hi any fight that he wants, but that might not be the case. Winning a world title nowadays doesn’t mean that you get enough lout to get the big fights against the likes of Canelo Alvarez.
“GGG on PBC? Much respect to GGG; wherever he goes, but right now it’s the Danny Jacobs show,” Jacobs said.
Winning the IBF 160 lb title seems to have gone to Jacobs’ head, making him think that it’s more than what it really is. It’s nice that Jacobs captured the IBF title, but right now, he’s just a paper champion at beat. Jacobs lost to Golovkin last year, and he’s looked terrible in his last two fights, almost losing to Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Maciej Sulecki. Those are fights that could have gone against him. They were that close. Jacobs didn’t dominate those guys to set himself apart from them. Those were fights that could almost b scored as draws. The way that Jacobs is talking, you would think that he trounce them both and knocked them out.
“Golovkin is a good fight, but I still go back to Canelo for me,” said Jacobs’ promoter Eddie Hearn about him preferring Jacobs fight Canelo next May.
If Hearn doesn’t line up Canelo for Jacobs to fight next May, then he’s going to need to find the next best thing. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like Hearn wants to put Jacobs in against a tough opponent until he gets his cash out fight against Canelo Alvarez. So, we’re likely going to see Jacobs making an easy title defense against a fringe contender in early 2019. Jacobs will end up likely defending against one of these guys:
– Jack Culcay
– Martin Murray
– Kamil Szeremeta
– David Lemieux