By Jim Calfa: Danny Jacobs will be coming off a 15-month layoff to face John Ryder this Saturday, February 12th, in the main event on DAZN at the Alexandra Palace in London, England.
Ryder, 33, will be looking to pull off the upset this Saturday night by taking the fight to the aging Jacobs. This is not a fight that Jacobs can afford to lack ambition because Ryder is highly motivated, and he’ll be giving it his all.
According to Celebrity Net worth, Jacobs’ net worth is $10 million, and that might be the reason why he’s not looked good in the last several years.
When you got that kind of money, it can sometimes be difficult for a fighter to put in the effort needed to dominate their opposition like they did when they were scrapping for a living.
Ryder hasn’t made that kind of money yet, so he’s going to be fighting tooth & nail trying to win because this is crucial for him to win so he can earn a fight against Canelo.
Jacobs, 35, needs to perform better against Ryder (30-5, 17 KOs) than he did in his last fight against Gabriel Rosado in November 2020 because he may not be so lucky this time. We don’t know which version of him we’ll see with Jacobs.
When he’s motivated, he’s capable of fighting elite-level fighters like Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin to a standstill. When Jacobs isn’t excited, you see the kind of effort he turned in for his last fight against Rosado.
Against Rosado, Jacobs (37-3, 30 KOs0 was outboxed and outworked but lucked out with the judges giving him a 12 round split decision in their fight in Hollywood, Florida.
Jacobs didn’t fight in 2021 and fought just once in 2020 against Rosado. In 2019, a motivated Jacobs came close to beating Canelo Alvarez but wound up losing a narrow 12 round unanimous decision due to a slow start.
Jacobs vs. Ryder undercard:
- Ellie Scotney vs. Jorgenlina Guanini
- Felix Cash vs. Magomed Madiev
- Johnny Fisher vs. Gabriel Enguema
- Cyrus Pattinson vs. Evgenii Vazem
- Jordan Reynolds vs. CJ Wood
- Hopey Price vs. TBA
Ryder’s big moment
“It’s a big show with about seven thousand in there, and we got three thousand Johnny Fisher fans as well. It’s a big fight for Danny Jacobs and a big fight for John Ryder,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV on this Saturday’s Jacobs vs. Ryder fight on DAZN.
“I haven’t seen a big U.S name like Danny Jacobs here for a long time, still in his prime,” Hearn continued. “It’s a big moment for John Ryder.”
Ryder, 5’9″, needs a victory in this fight to keep him in position for a world title. In 2019, Ryder lost a questionable 12 round decision to former WBA 168-lb champion Callum Smith in Liverpool, England.
Many boxing fans felt that Ryder was properly robbed in that fight, and it’s a shame that all three of the judges appeared to get it wrong.
Jacobs expects Ryder to pressure
“I think this fight compared to my last fight is the contrast in style,” said Jacobs to Matchroom Boxing in comparing his last match-up against Gabriel Rosado to Saturday’s bout against Ryder.
“Rosado backed up a lot, and this guy is going to come forward,” said Jacobs. “So he’s going to force me to work, which I like.”
“He’s going to bring it early as much as he can until he gets hit with the sinister stuff,” said Jacobs’ coach Andre Rozier in talking about Ryder. “Once that happens, he might become a little more reluctant.
“I’ve seen that too to the point where you might instead of waiting for that moment; you might have to go and get him and bust him up. We’ve got to surely put the show to work,” said Rozier on his plans for Jacobs.
“You have to appreciate his discipline and dedication to the attack.
“I got a lot of experience with smaller guys, shorter guys,” said Jacobs. “I guess a guy who got his second opportunity to get his girl back, get his honey back.
“In my case, get my grove back, and now I’m here with a new mindset with the same grove. Now it’s going to catapult me to another level,” said Jacobs.
Rozier wants Jacobs to show old form
“Well, the Hall of Fame is the destination,” said Rozier about Jacobs. “Hard work, determination, and you’ll be standing at the podium getting your award.
All he has to do is be Danny, be the Danny of old. The exciting, explosive, kinetic Danny. With that being said, he’ll realize his goal of becoming a Hall of Famer. That’s the last bastion that needs to be covered,” said Rozier.
At 35, you have to wonder if Jacobs’ problems at this point in his career are age-related and not something that can be fixed by motivating him to return to the “Danny of old.”
There aren’t too many 35-year-old fighters out there still performing like they did when they were in their 20s, and Rozier and Hearn might be kidding themselves about hoping that the old version of Jacobs will return.
Even if Jacobs isn’t what he once was, his power will likely still be there in, and that might be all he needs to beat ‘The Gorilla’ Ryder on Saturday night in their headliner on DAZN.
“He knows what’s expected of him, and we’ve been doing this a long time,” said Rozier. “Now it’s not so much that we’re teaching him how to fight because he knows how to fight.
“The only thing we’re doing is recalibrating his capability and getting the fiend back into him,” said Rozier about wanting Jacobs to be a monster inside the ring.
“We want him to be fiendish. We need him to be marauding and exciting. Once he does that, then you’ll see the knockouts return,” said Rozier about Jacobs.
It sounds like Rozier is trying to motivate Jacobs to return to what he used to be. Jacobs’ problem could also be that he’s made so much money in the last three years from his fights against Canelo Alvarez, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., and Rosado that it’s taken away the hunger he once had before he became a millionaire.
“Yeah, things are on the up and up,” said Jacobs about his career.
