Daniel Jacobs to fight in May or June on DAZN

By Allan Fox

Daniel Jacobs will be back in the ring in May or June in taking a tune-up fight on DAZN to get him properly acclimated to the 168-lb division. After this next fight, Jacobs will be ready to challenge for a world title at super middleweight.

There’s no word on who the 33-year-old Jacobs will be fighting. That still needs to be decided. This will be Jacobs’ second fight of his deal with DAZN, and he wants to get a proper warmup opponent before looking to face a quality 168-lb fighter in the fall.

Jacobs to announce his next fight date soon

“I will be announcing my next fight date over the next couple of weeks,” Jacobs said to ESPN.com. “I’m looking for one more fight to acclimate myself to the 168-pound division this spring. Then, in the fall, I’m looking to target one of the champions in the division.”

Jacobs adds that if he can’t get one of the champions at 168 to face him, then he’d like to fight one of the top middleweight at a catchweight. An obvious choice would be Demetrius Andrade. That would be a tough fight for Jacobs, on account of the power, and slick fighting style that Andrade has.

Fans would like to see Jacobs and Gennadiy Golovkin fight again, but that won’t happen in 2020. Golovkin will likely be fighting Canelo in September, and he’s probably not going to be able to get back in the ring quickly to face Jacobs in December unless he destroys the Mexican star with a quick KO

Callum Smith likely for Jacobs in the fall

With 13 years of experience as a professional, Jacobs might not need a tune-up to get ready to fight at super middleweight, considering it’s a weak division. It’s a mixed bag in terms of the quality among the champions. Jacobs vs. Chavez Jr. was so bad that it might be wise for Danny to face a good opponent next instead of another horribly over-matched guy.

There are three very good belt holders at 168 in David Benavidez, Canelo Alvarez, and Caleb Plant, then you’ve got the arguably weaker champions in Billy Joe Saunders and Callum Smith.

Given Jacobs already lost to Canelo by a 12 round decision in May of last year, he’s not likely to get another fight against him. There’s no demand for a second fight between Canelo and Jacobs, and it wouldn’t attract interest.

WBO super middleweight champion Saunders (29-0, 14 KOs) is expected to be facing Canelo Alvarez in a unification fight on May 2 in Las Vegas. That would leave WBA 168-lb champion Callum (27-0, 19 KOs) as Jacobs’ likely opponent for November or December. Callum is with the same promotional company as Jacobs at Matchroom Boxing, and he also fights on DAZN.

Jacobs tune-up options

There’s really no mystery at all in who Jacobs will be fighting in the fall. The only mystery is who Jacobs will be fighting in May or June in his second tune-up.

These are the rumored names that Jacobs will be picking from:

Gabriel Rosado
John Ryder

Rosado (25-12-1, 14 KOs) is a well-known fighter, who is a scrappy guy that gives the A-level fighters tough times, but he generally loses when stepping up against good opposition. It’s unclear what DAZN is expecting from Jacobs in terms of quality opposition. Rosado, 34, recently lost to Maciej Sulecki by a 10 round decision last year in March. Like many of Rosado’s many losses, he gave Sulecki a good fight but came up short in the end.

Jacobs already had a tune-up, and Rosado would be another over-matched opponent. It depends on how much leeway DAZN wants to give Jacobs as far as the opposition he’s facing. If he’s going to burn through one-third of his contract with DAZN taking easy tune-ups, that might not be a good deal

John ‘The Gorilla’ Ryder (28-5, 16 KOs) lost a controversial 12 round decision to Callum last November in a fight that a lot of thought he won.

The former IBF/WBA middleweight champion Jacobs (36-3, 30 KOs) already had his first warmup level fight at 168 on December 20th with his 5th round stoppage victory over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in Phoenix.

The fight wasn’t much of a tune-up for Jacobs, however, as Chavez Jr. threw only a small handful of punches before quitting on his stool after the fifth round. Chavez Jr. suffered a broken nose and didn’t wish to continue fighting. That was a disappointing fight for a lot of boxing fans to watch, on account of how it ended.