Trainer: Jacobs will pressure Canelo

By Boxing News - 04/07/2019 - Comments

Image: Trainer: Jacobs will pressure Canelo

By Mark Eisner: Trainer Andre Rozier says his fighter IBF middleweight champion Daniel “Miracle Man” Jacobs (35-2, 29 KOs) (35-2, 29 KOs) will be taking the fight to WBA/WBC champion Saul Canelo Alvarez (51-1-2, 35 KOs) to beat him with aggression, speed and size on May 4.

Canelo and Jacobs will be fighting at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The winner of this fight will have a lot of options for a match against Gennady Golovkin, Jermall Charlo, Jaime Munguia or WBO champion Demetrius Andrade.

Rozier wants it to be known that Jacobs (35-2, 29 KOs) is going to be bringing pressure to the Golden Boy star Canelo like he’s never seen before. With the controversy surrounding Canelo’s two fights against Golovkin that took place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Rozier wants to make sure Jacobs does enough to have his hand raised at the end. Golovkin tried boxing Canelo in their two fights, but it didn’t impress the judges for them to give him the wins. What those two fights showed is that Jacobs will need press the action to beat Canelo with punching to ensure he gets the win.

“I will be looking for Danny to be quite aggressive, and quite diligent in his attack,” Jacobs’ trainer Andre Rozier said to Sporting News Canelo-Jacobs 50-50. “We’re going to be bringing the heat like you’ve never seen before.”

Jacobs, 32, backpedaled frequently against GGG in his close 12 round unanimous decision loss to him in March 2017. The difference between the way Jacobs fought in the first half of the fight, and in the second half was like night and day. After Jacobs was knocked down in the fourth round by Golovkin, he got up and started to take the fight to him. But it wasn’t until the sixth round on that Jacobs began to attack Triple G in an aggressive way that he’d been known for doing. Golovkin struggled with the pressure from Jacobs, but he was able to hold onto the big lead that he had built up in the first half of the fight to get the win. Jacobs fought fought aggressively against Maciej Sulecki, but he didn’t fight as hard as he was capable. In the 12th, Jacobs turned it on and dropped Sulecki hard, and dominated him with power shots.

“Daniel Jacobs will probably be the most difficult, and the most complicated opponent Canelo can have,” said Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya. “He throws a lot of combinations, and tends to move side to side to lose you, to complicate you, to make you think.”

Canelo had success in his last two fights against GGG and Rocky Fielding in walking these fighters down, and getting the better of them with his body punching. Canelo would have beaten Golovkin by a wider score if he didn’t gas out in the championship rounds. Canelo was tired in the last four rounds of the fight, and Golovkin narrowed his lead with a late surge. Canelo fought hard in the 12th, and was able to get Golovkin backing up. The judges saw Golovkin being walked down by Canelo, so they gave the round to the Mexican star. It was a close round, but Canelo’s pressure was the difference. Golovkin made a mistake of backing up instead of coming forward. He might not have realized how he would be perceived in backing up against Canelo. Jacobs can’t let Canelo walk him down the way he did against Golovkin and Fielding. If Jacobs uses movement, the judges might not give him the rounds, even if he’s sticking a jab in Canelo’s face the entire fight and not getting hit. Jacobs is facing a star, and you don’t beat that type of fighter by moving backwards or side to side.

“Well, I’m a natural counter puncher, and I will have to come forward if necessary,” Canelo said in talking about his fight strategy for the Jacobs fight. “I’m not sure how I will start, but I do know we’re going to train for whatever may present itself in the ring.”

Canelo is an excellent counter puncher. He’s quite good at countering single shots. Where Canelo struggles is when he’s being jabbed a lot. Canelo was unable to counter Golovkin, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Erislady Lara and Austin Trout when those fighters jabbed him from the outside. Golovkin didn’t throw enough power shots to please the judges. He was hitting Canelo a lot more than he was being hit, but he was landing mostly jabs. The judges were more impressed with Canelo connecting one to three hard shots per round, and not giving as much weight to Golovkin’s jabs, even though they were power jabs that were snapping Canelo’s head back. Jacobs will probably need to put himself in harm’s way by slugging with the counter punching Canelo if he wants to win a decision.

“Sometimes when you use one plan, that might not work,” Jacobs said. “Plan B or C might work exceptionally. So for me it’s about getting to the point where I find what works, using that, being aggressive, using my speed, using my natural gifts. I’m a fighter, but I’m also a tremendous athlete. I do a lot of things in that ring for a big guy,” Jacobs said.

What may seem like is working for Jacobs might not impress the judges. Jacobs can’t fall into the same trap that Triple G fell into in his two fights against Canelo Alvarez by thinking that he can win rounds by fighting on the outside, jabbing and not getting hit. Fighting like that should result in Jacobs getting a win against Canelo, but it might not turn out that way. GGG, Trout, and Lara all jabbed Canelo from the outside, and they weren’t given wins against him. What this tells you is that a fighter needs to do something extra when they face a star like Canelo Alvarez, especially when he’s at home at the T-Mobile. This is normal though for any popular fighter when they’re fighting at home. The scoring seems to slant in the favor of the home fighter. That’s why it’s important for the visiting fighter to be super aggressive to the point where they’re taking a lot of risks that they normally would never do. It’s a different situation. You’re fighting the star in his backyard. Jacobs’ trainer Rozier is aware of what he needs to do for him to get the ‘W’ in this fight. Rozier needs to make sure Jacobs is fully focused on the game plan, and he doesn’t start giving ground like he did against Dmitry Pirog, Golovin, Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Sulecki.

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“We’re going to use Danny’s physical attributes; his size, his range, his quickness, his punching power, and we’re definitely going to be the aggressor in this fight, and we’re going to be looking to control the environment at all times,” Rozier said in giving his analysis of the Caenlo vs. Jacobs fight.

If you look at Jacobs’ fight against Peter Quillin from 2015, he definitely knows how to fight aggressively when he wants to. If Jacobs fights like that against Canelo, he’s got a good chance of taking him out of his counter punching game and forcing him to contend with a lot of shots. Counter punchers that kind of incoming fire.