Daniel Jacobs to fight on November 16/23 in New York

By Boxing News - 07/29/2019 - Comments

Image: Daniel Jacobs to fight on November 16/23 in New York

By Mark Eisner: Daniel Jacobs be returning to action in four months from now on November 16 or on November 23 in his hometown of New York, according to his manager Keith Connolly told ESPN.  ‘The Miracle Man’ Jacobs (35-3, 29 KOs) will be fighting at super middleweight against an opponent still to be determined. However, Jacobs’ manager Connolly isn’t ruling out a fight between Daniel and a middleweight at a catch-weight above 160.

Jacobs struggled to make the 160 pound limit for the Canelo fight, and afterwards had made it clear that he’d be moving up to 168.

Daniel ‘Miracle Man’ Jacobs coming off loss to Canelo

Jacobs, 32, lost his IBF middleweight title to WBA/WBC champion Saul Canelo Alvarez by a 12 round unanimous decision in a unification fight last May on DAZN. The scores were 116-112, 115-112 and 115-112. Most boxing fans would agree that it was a winnable fight for Jacobs, but he started coming on too late.

Daniel gave away most of the rounds in the first have of the contest by fighting too passively, and giving Canelo too much respect. Jacobs gave a good effort in the championship rounds of the contest, but he couldn’t make up ground edge Canelo. This is the same problem Jacobs had in his loss to Gennady Golovkin in 2017. Jacobs started too slowly in the first six rounds, and gave away the fight.

Jacobs willing to fight at catch-weight above 160

Connolly told ESPN that Jacobs would be “willing to float between middleweight and super middleweight depending on the better opportunity.” Just who Jacobs will be fighting is unclear. The fact that Jacobs’ hasn’t closed the door to fighting one of the middleweights suggests that there’s some concern about the lack of name fighters in the 168 pound division. Although there are a small handful of good fighters at super middleweight, most of them have small fan bases, and they’re not well known. Jacobs is with DAZN, and they’re likely going to want to have a say on who he fights on their streaming service.

Jacobs’ promoter Eddie Hearn also guides the career of WBA Super World super middleweight champion Callum Smith (26-0, 19 KOs). That’s a fight that Hearn is likely planning on putting together for Jacobs in the near future, but not for now. Jaobs needs to some experience in the weight division before Hearn puts him with a talented fighter like Callum.

These are some compelling options for Jacobs’ next fight at super middleweight:

  • John Ryder
  • Chris Eubank Jr.
  • Peter Quillin
  • Caleb Truax
  • Jose Uzcategui
  • Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
  • Rocky Fielding
  • David Lemieux
  • Fedor Chudinov
  • Jurgen Brahmer