By Aragon Garcia: Daniel Jacobs says he’d destroy Saul Canelo Alvarez if he made the decision to fight him at 168 rather than 160 next May. Canelo (51-1-2, 34 KOs) isn’t sure which weight class he’s going to be fighting in after beating WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight champion Rocky Fielding (27-2, 15 KOs) by a third round knockout last Saturday.
Canelo now has his foot inside the door of a new weight class, which means he doesn’t need to go back down to 160. He can stay at super middleweight and defend his newly won WBA belt, and go after the other champions in the weight class.
Jacobs (35-2, 29 KOs) feels that Canelo is too small to be fighting at super middleweight against the bigger guys with talent in that weight class like David Benavidez. Canelo will never beat a fighter the size of the 6’2″ Benavidez, says Jacobs.
“I don’t think so,” Jacobs said to Behind The Gloves, when asked if he thinks Canelo will do well at super middleweight. “I think his physique, his size, that really plays a factor in the super middleweight division. A guy, David Benavidez, I could never see Canelo beating a guy like that. Size matters.”
The way that Canelo looked last Saturday night, he has a good chance of cleaning out the entire super middleweight division from top to bottom. Fighters like David Benavidez, Jose Uzcategui, Chris Eubank Jr., Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez and Callum Smith would all be vulnerable to Canelo at super middleweight. They would’t be able to keep Canelo from getting inside on them, and once he’s in close, he’ll have them right where he wants them for his brutal body shots. Getting hit to the body from a hard puncher like Canelo is something that a fighter can never get used to.
“He’s a strong fighter, but I think he’s really limited against a fighter like me with the stature of me,” Jacobs said about Canelo. “The most realistic thing for me is the biggest fights. So we’re going to go for the big fights. We’re in a strong position. We’re in a good position to get those key fights. He did good tonight. He did very well. I have multiple options. I have different options that I’m involving myself with. There’s big fights. I still have GGG. I still have [Jermall] Charlo. I have [Rob] Brant,” Jacobs said.
Jacobs is getting ahead of himself in talking up a fight against Canelo. Golden Boy Promotions boss Oscar De La Hoya said at the post-fight press conference that they still need to sit down with Canelo after the Christmas holidays to decide who he should fight, and which weight class. De La Hoya and Canelo aren’t certain which direction to go in.
Canelo doesn’t gain much in fighting Jacobs, considering that he was already beaten in 2017 by Gennady Golovkin. That fight was too recent for Canelo to get much credit if he beats Jacobs too. Canelo will gain more for beating one of the top super middleweights like Callum Smith or defeating Jermall Charlo (27-0, 21 KOs). Those are unbeaten fighters that are well thought of. Jacobs already has 2 losses on his resume, and there’s nothing Canelo gets from beating him.
“Of course, I would, but it would probably be worse for him, because I’d probably be much stronger at that weight, and probably faster,” Jacobs said when asked if he’d be willing to fight Canelo at 168. “To me that’s a slaughter,” Jacobs said about him being too big and too strong for Canelo at super middleweight.
Jacobs should be fighting at super middleweight. He’s more than big enough to fight in the 168 lb division. Half of Jacobs’ fights during his career have been at super middleweight. Jacobs has fought frequently at just above 160, which is super middleweight. Jacobs should move up to super middleweight and fight those guys instead of calling out Canelo, and talking about how he’s going to beat him.
The fighters that Canelo will get the most attention facing right now are these guys:
– Callum Smith
– Chris Eubank Jr.
– Gilberto Ramirez
– Jermall Charlo
– Jarrett Hurd
– Jermell Charlo
– Billy Joe Saunders
These are the fighters that Canelo should be focusing on for his next fight on May 4. There’s no reason why Canelo should ever fight Gennady Golovkin again. He already beat him soundly last September, and he doesn’t need to fight him again after that. As far as Jacobs goes he brings nothing to the table. He’s just another fighter that was beaten by GGG. Canelo doesn’t need to fight GGG’s leftovers. The guy that Jacobs should be fighting is Golovkin to avenge his loss. Why call out Canelo when you still haven’t come back from your loss to GGG? It’s better for Jacobs to try and take care of business against Golovkin first before he starts talking about wanting to fight Canelo. If Canelo had lost to Golovkin, he would have been looking to fight him again. The question is why isn’t Jacobs doing that?