By Jim Calfa: Daniel ‘Miracle Man’ Jacobs and John Ryder have agreed to terms for a potential fight on February 12th at 168 in London, England. There’s no word yet whether this fight will be title eliminator at super middleweight, but it would make sense if it were.
Jacobs (37-3, 30 KOs) hasn’t fought in over a year since his controversial win over Gabriel Rosado on November 27th, 2020, and it’s unclear how effective or motivated he’ll be for a fight against the 33-year-old former super middleweight world title challenger Ryder (30-5, 17 KOs).
Jacobs should have thought about giving Rosado a rematch because the fans feel that was a gift over the New Yorker. The way Rosado fought, Jacobs was wise not to push for a rematch, though, because he would probably lose.
The Jacobs vs. Ryder fight will be shown on DAZN. The winner will be in a solid position to challenge four-belt undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez for a world title if he doesn’t vacate.
Jacobs could get another title shot
For Jacobs, he’s likely hoping to get a second bite of the apple in another opportunity against Canelo, but that’s unrealistic. Canelo isn’t the type to run it back unless there’s a tremendous amount of controversy over the results of one of his fights, as we saw after his first bout against Gennadiy Golovkin in 2017.
Unfortunately for Jacobs, there was NO objection from boxing fans over Canelo’s win over him in 2019.
Consequently, there’s no reason for Canelo to run it back with Jacobs, so even if he does defeat the 33-year-old Ryder to become mandatory for Canelo’s WBA or WBC 168-lb belts, the chances of a rematch for the ‘Miracle Man’ are nonexistent.
However, what would be a total nightmare for Jacobs is if he’s forced to fight former two-time WBC super middleweight champion David Benavidez for one of the 168-lb titles if Canelo vacates as he’s expected to do.
The soon-to-be 35-year-old Jacobs is a good fighter, but he’s not in the class of Benavidez (25-0, 22 KOs) at super middleweight, and if that fight happens, it’s likely to end badly for the ‘Miracle Man’ from New York.
Benavidez, 24, is on another level than the aging Jacobs, and he doesn’t lack motivation.
Danny must show more motivation
If Jacobs is stuck fighting Benavidez for one of Canelo’s titles, he might be better off going in a different direction because that’s fight could go VERY severely for him.
“Daniel Jacobs and John Ryder have agreed to terms, sources told
@SInow. Tentative date: February 12th in London. Jacobs will make his UK debut,” said Chris Mannix on Twitter.
Jacobs hasn’t looked motivated in his last two fights against Rosado and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. since getting a HUGE payday against Canelo Alvarez on May 4th, 2019.
Canelo edged Jacobs by a close 12 round unanimous decision, winning by 116-112, 115-113, and 115-113. Like with Jacobs’ fight with Gennadiy Golovkin, he probably would have beaten Canelo if he hadn’t fought so timidly in the first five rounds of the contest.
Jacobs put himself behind the eight ball by starting slowly and giving away many of the first six rounds against the Mexican star Canelo.
When Jacobs finally did start fighting aggressively, he took control of the fight in the second half of the bout and looked to be the better fighter at the end.
However, Jacobs blew his chance of winning by starting slowly against Alvarez, and it was the same mistake he against Golovkin.
In that fight, Jacobs appeared to lose five of the first six rounds against GGG.
Afterward, when Jacobs complained bitterly to the boxing public that he should have been given the win over Golovkin, he was ignored because the fans had seen the fight. Jacobs didn’t fight hard in the early portion of the contest, and it cost him.
Ryder was on the receiving end of a controversial 12 round unanimous decision at the hands of former WBA super middleweight champion Callum Smith on November 23, 2019, in Liverpool, England.
Many boxing fans felt that Callum was given a hometown decision by the judges, who ignored how Ryder had dominated him on the inside for 12 rounds.