As Daniel Jacobs prepares for the biggest fight of his life against Gennady Golovkin in March, he’s giving himself what he believes is his best chance for victory. RingTV reports that Jacobs’ 10-week training camp will host Avtandil Khurtsidze, Sergiy Derevyanchenko, and Ievgen Khytrov as his main sparring partners.
“We think they can emulate Golovkin’s style better than anybody out there,” Keith Connolly, who advises all three, as well as Jacobs, told RingTV.com on Wednesday. “They’re from the (former) Russian system and they’re all top middleweights. Besides Danny and GGG, I don’t think there’s anyone out there even in the Top 10 who can really compete with those guys. The fact that they’re from (the former) Russian amateur program, a lot of these guys have the same type of style and I think just psychologically, it will be good for Danny to be in with them.”
Khurtsidze (32-2-2, 21 KOs) is currently the WBO’s number 1 ranked contender to the title Billy Joe Saunders holds, but was passed over in favor of Canelo Alvarez who was named as Saunders mandatory challenger.
Derevyanchenko (9-0, 7 KOs) was a bronze medalist at the 2007 world championships and 2008 Olympian. He’s currently rated as the #10 middleweight in the world by BoxRec.
Khytrov (14-0, 12 KOs) was a 2012 Olympian and a gold medalist at the 2011 World Championships. He’s rated as the #11 middleweight in the world by BoxRec. He’ll join Jacobs’ camp a few weeks after his fight against Immanuwel Aleem on Jan. 14.
Jacobs team plans on having these three contenders “…emulate GGG’s style, as far as cutting off the ring and throwing that left hook to the body that GGG throws when he has his opponent on the ropes.”
Khurtsidze, Derevyanchenko, and Khytrov make for some highly-rated sparring partners, but do you think they can adequately prepare Jacobs for what Golovkin brings to the table?
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