By Sean Jones: Daniel Jacobs is interested in facing Gennadiy Golovkin, Canelo Alvarez, and Jermall Charlo before retiring from the sport.
Jacobs will be fighting what he says is a showcase type of fight against middleweight gatekeeper Gabe Rosado (25-12-1, 14 KOs) in the main event this Friday, November 27th, at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Hollywood, Florida.
Jacobs and Rosado will be in the main event on DAZN. The streaming giant gave Jacobs the green light to fight the 34-year-old Rosado in the headliner position despite the match-up being viewed as a sure thing win for Daniel.
Jacobs (36-3, 30 KOs) has no plans on retiring from boxing anytime soon, but he wants to fight those at some point before he hangs up his gloves.
(Photo credit: Credit: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing)
Jacobs (36-3, 30 KOs) already fought Golovkin and Canelo and lost to both of them, but the fights took place at 160. It’s unclear how Golovkin and Canelo feel about fighting Jacobs again, as there seems to be no point in the rematches taking place.
Daniel hasn’t earned the big fights
Jacobs hasn’t beaten anyone good since he lost to those two fighters, and it looks to some like he’s just taking easy fights since signing with DAZN. Daniel’s last fight was against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr last December, and that was a horrendously bad one in which both fighters were bombarded by the trash from the fans after it ended.
Jacobs has now made a lateral move in selecting Rosado as his opponent for Friday. That’s not an improvement over Chavez Jr. If anything, it’s a similar type of opponent that Jacobs to be fighting.
So for Jacobs to be, he wants to fight Canelo and Golovkin again; he’s done nothing to earn those fights other than to beat Chavez Jr and likely Rosado.
Jacobs lost to Golovkin by a 12 round unanimous decision in March 2017. The scores were 114-113, 115-112, and 115-112. Daniel would have had a good chance of winning if he had fought harder in the first six rounds, but he chose to move around and avoid exchanges.
In the second half, Jacobs came on and fought well but was still hurt in the 10th. Jacobs didn’t do enough to win, but he complained bitterly after the fight he thought he won.
Jacobs thinks he beat Golovkin
He still believes he deserved the victory. If Golovkin fights Jacobs again, he would need to be prepared for him to have issues with the decision if it goes against him.
Jacobs’ wins since his defeat to Golovkin were against these fighters:
- Maciej Sulecki
- Julio Cesar Chavez Jr
- Luis Arias
- Sergiy Derevyanchenko
Jacobs’ win over Derevyanchenko was controversial, with many boxing fans believing that he should have lost. The Sulecki fight was knotted going into the 12th round, where Jacobs sealed the victory with a knockdown.
It was far from an impressive performance by Jacobs, and he was lucky to get the knockdown that saved the day.
Daniel feels like he’s at 100% of his potential since moving up to 168, so that would be where he’d want to fight those three popular world champions.
Fans aren’t expecting this to be a competitive fight, as Rosado has lost three out of his last six fights, and he’s clearly a journeyman level fighter at this point.
Jacobs targeting GGG, Canelo, and Jermall Charlo
“Golovkin rematch and I know everyone wants the Canelo sweepstakes. I would definitely want to have a rematch with him again at super middleweight where I’m 100 percent,” said Jacobs when asked to name three fighters he wants to face before he retires.
“I think thirdly anyone in the super middleweight division that I would go in there with that’ll give me that world title opportunity. For me, personally, [Jermall] Charlo is definitely that guy that I’ve always wanted to fight.
“Those three fighters for me, I could be content with and ride off into the sunset. You might have a fight in between here and there but at the same time, those are the three guys that I would love to see myself in there with again.
“100%, he’s on the hit list for sure,” Jacobs said of Charlo. “Much respect to the guy with what he’s accomplished, but we have unfinished business. If we could meet at a comfortable weight at super middleweight or whatever makes sense, I’m down to do it,” said Jacobs.
It would be surprising if Canelo ever fights Jacobs again because there’s nothing to gain from that fight. Jacobs hasn’t wowed the boxing public with his choice of opposition since losing to Canelo, and it looks to some like he’s just padding his record while waiting for a rematch.
Golovkin is a different story. He might be interested in facing Jacobs once he gets his trilogy match against Canelo next year. Jacobs will have to wait until Golovkin fights Canelo, and even then, he might have to be content with GGG coming off of defeat.
Rosado was picked for Jacobs to showcase his talent
“Sometimes you have those grudge matches where you want to shut somebody up for talking smack,” said Jacobs about his fight against Rosado.
“Nine times out of ten, it’s fans or boxing critics. But when it’s a fighter, someone in your division, and someone you can actually shut up and make them eat their words, you want to do that.
“Coming out of the pandemic, he’s the perfect fight for me. This is my come out show and I’ll be able to display everything in my arsenal that I have. It was a lot of things,” Jacobs said in what made him want to fight Rosado.
“Him talking smack. Obviously, fighters talk smack to get fights. I think it was a mixture of coming out of this pandemic, not really having the best training that I wanted to.
“I don’t know everyone else’s situation. It wasn’t me playing it safe. It was more so that he was the guy that fell in the line of the opponents in the options that I had.
“We still had world champions as options, but for me, this was the perfect fight because one, I can shut his mouth up, two, I can fully display my arsenal with this new trainer that I have.
“This will be our third fight together,” Jacobs said in giving his reasons for wanting Rosado.
Using Rosado as a showcase fight would work if he were highly rated by boxing fans and viewed as a talented fighter. But the fans see Rosado as a high-level journeyman, so he’s the wrong guy for Jacobs to use for showcase purposes.
If Jacobs gets a little careless in there on Friday night, he might get decked by Rosado the way Maciej Sulecki did. It’s no secret that Jacobs is chinny and can’t take a good punch without nosediving to the canvas.
Jacobs wants to get acclimated to 168-lb division
“There were a lot of things that played into me taking this fight,” Jacobs said. “I want to be a two-division world champion.
“After having marquee fights in the middleweight division, I’m 33 now, so we’re stepping into that last phase of our career and we want to take the important fights.
“The fights that are going to take our legacy to the next level. For me, Gabe Rosado, I don’t think it’s going to do anything, he’s one of those stepping stones for me to get acclimated to the super middleweight division to fight my next fight, as a world championship fight.
“I still see longevity in the sport,” said Jacobs. “For me, I still see amazing opportunities still to come.
“Gabe may not be the most skillful, and you may not say he’s the top this or top that, but he always shows up. He puts it all on the line when he fights Golovkin, he showed heart.
“That’s another reason why I’m happy having a fight with a guy like this because regardless of the skillset, I think whatever goods he has, he’s going to display come fight night,” said Jacobs.
Using a middleweight like Rosado to get acclimated to the super-middleweight division makes no sense at all. When a fighter is working on getting properly acclimated to a new division, they don’t fight guys in the division below because that defeats the purpose.
The truth is, Jacobs isn’t trying to get acclimated at all to the 168-lb division. Picking Rosado is about making sure Jacobs doesn’t lose while waiting for a rematch with Canelo or GGG.
Jacobs views Rosado as a “gatekeeper”
“I know he doesn’t have too many positive things to say about me, but we settle our differences in the ring,” said Jacobs about him Rosado. “But outside of the ring, there’s nothing but respect.
“I feel like there are levels in this game, and I’ve been adamant about my skillet. There’s a margin between us, but he calls for a good show.
“Just because Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward weren’t the most skillful, and that showed when they fought guys like Mayweather, and Micky Ward fought Zab Judah, you seen the different set.
“But they still have a fan base, and those are the type of fighters that keep boxing going because they’re not just going to be world champions that are going to give you good shows and performances.
“He [Rosado] may be a gatekeeper or whatever you want to call the guy. He may be all of these things, but one thing he isn’t is a quitter, and I have to respect that,” Jacobs said.
You can’t call Rosado a proper gatekeeper because who at this point has he beaten in the last few years to earn that position. He’s lost half of his last six fights, and, surprisingly, he’s still ranked at all at 160.