By Jeff Aronow: Eddie Hearn is planning on making a large offer in the millions to lure Joe Smith Jr to defend his WBO light heavyweight title against Daniel ‘Miracle Man’ Jacobs in his next fight on DAZN.
Hearn’s plans for the Smith vs. Jacobs fight could cause problems with Top Rank. They’re hoping to make a unification match between IBF/WBC 175lb champion Artur Beterbiev and Smith Jr next in a fight that would have three titles [IBF, WBC, and WBO] on the line.
Mike Coppinger reports the news of Matchroom Boxing promoter Hearn is planning on making a multi-million dollar offer for Smith Jr (27-3, 21 KOs) to defend his WBO 175-lb strap against former IBF/WBA middleweight champion Jacobs (37-3, 30 KOs).
Danny Jacobs coming off a controversial win
Jacobs’s contract with Matchroom expired after his last fight against Gabe Rosado in November of last year. It was thought at the time that Hearn wouldn’t renew the contract with the 34-year-old Jacobs, as he looked terribly poor and over-the-hill against Rosado in winning a controversial 12 round split decision.
Many boxing fans saw Rosado as the clear winner in that fight. It looked like Jacobs was going through the motions, and it was another lackluster opponent for him. Jacobs wanted the fight with Rosado rather than Hearn, who preferred that he face Callum Smith or John Ryder.
Jacobs hasn’t looked good since his loss to Canelo Alvarez in 2019, and even in that fight, he looked terrified in the first six rounds. He didn’t do anything against Canelo and let him build up a huge lead.
When Canelo gassed out after six rounds, Jacobs had some success in the second half. He didn’t do enough to win, and he fought in the same way as he did in his loss to Gennady Golovkin in 2017.
What we don’t know is if Hearn is the one that is eager to make the Joe Smith Jr vs. Danny Jacobs fight or if this is a move by one of DAZN’s people.
Smith vs. Jacobs would interest New Yorkers
From DAZN’s perspective, you can understand why they would want to stream a fight between Smith Jr and Jacobs.
These are both New Yorkers, and Jacobs has been around for ages and is well known by U.S boxing fans. However, there’s no mistaking how poor Jacobs has looked recently and how he’s been facing less than the best.
If Hearn has his mind made up that he wants to match one of his super middleweights against WBO light heavyweight champion Joe Smith, a much better choice would be for him to have Carlos Gongora (20-0, 15 KOs) move up to take the fight.
Gongora is fighting a much higher level now than Danny Jacobs, and he would stand a better chance of beating Smith Jr.
In fact, Gongora might very well defeat Smith because he’s got a lot of talent. Gongora would likely destroy Jacobs if those two fought.
If Hearn wants to give the boxing public in the U.S a good product, he’ll have Gongora move up to light heavyweight to take on Joe Smith rather than the shot-looking Jacobs.
Smith vs. Jacobs would be a feeble fight. Jacobs couldn’t pull the trigger against Rosado, and he didn’t look so hot in his fight before that against an over-the-hill Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
What Hearn should have done after Jacobs’ questionable win over Rosado is put those two back in with each other for a well-deserved rematch instead of trying to push a fight between Danny and Smith Jr on DAZN.
At this point, it would be a bad idea to let Jacobs fight any of the world champions in any division, particularly light heavyweight. He can’t pull the trigger anymore.