Daniel Jacobs vs. Maciej Sulecki close for April 28

Boxingnews24.com

By Dan Ambrose: Former IBF middleweight belt holder Daniel ‘Miracle Man’ Jacobs (33-2, 29 KOs) has a fight in the works against unbeaten junior middleweight contender Maciej Sulecki (26-0, 10 KOs) for April 28 on HBO Boxing at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

ESPN is reporting that a deal is close for the 28-year-old Poland born Sulecki to face Jacobs on April 28th at middleweight rather than his normal weight class at 154.

This could be a mistake on Jacobs’ promoter Eddie Hearn’s part in putting him in with Sulecki. Jacobs has a chin problem, as we’ve seen in the past with his knockout loss to Dmitry Pirog, and he doesn’t do well against pressure fighters. Sulecki would have a real chance of beating Jacobs and ruining Hearn’s dreams of him fighting the winner of the May 5th rematch between Saul Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin. It wouldn’t be surprised if Sulecki knocks Jacobs out. Jacobs doesn’t take a punch very well, and he folds mentally when he has to deal with pressure.

Andy Lee and Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan were both in the running for the April 28th fight against Jacobs.

The 6’1” Sulecki has fought most of his career a middleweight until recently.

Sulecki moved down to the 154 lb. division in 2017 and defeated these 3 fighters:

• Michi Munoz (26-6)

• Damian Ezequiel Bonelli (23-1)

• Jack Culcay (22-2)

Those 3 wins earned Sulecki a #1 ranking at 154 with the World Boxing Council. By choosing to fight Jacobs on April 28, Sulecki could potentially lose his #1 spot with the WBC at junior middleweight. It depends on how the WBC reacts to the outcome of the Jacobs vs. Sulecki fight. For Sulecki to give up on a potential title shot against WBC junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo, it has to be a good offer given to him by Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Sport for a fight against Jacobs.

There’s a big upside for Sulecki if he defeats the 31-year-old Jacobs. If Sulecki defeats Jacobs, he’ll put himself in a prime position to get an eventual fight against the likes of Gennady Golovkin or Saul Canelo Alvarez. Facing either of those guys would give Sulecki a nice payday. There’s good money for Sulecki to make fighting Canelo and Golovkin. In comparison, the money that can be made for Sulecki at 154 is considerably less, as those fighters are not as popular as GGG and Canelo Alvarez.

Sulecki totally dominated Hugo Centeno Jr. in stopping him in the 10th round in their fight in June 2016. Sulecki looked very good in beating Centeno Jr.

Jacobs’ promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport is showing a bit of inventiveness in selecting Suleckii from the junior middleweight division rather than having his fighter compete against a middleweight. It suggests that there’s a degree of desperation there on Hearn’s part in going after a 154 lb. fighter instead of someone from the 160 lb. weight class. Jacobs, a very large fighter for the middleweight division, he’s only made the 160-lb. weight limit 10 times in his career. The remainder of Jacobs’ fights has been at super middleweight, which is probably the division he should be fighting in. Jacobs looked like a light heavyweight after he rehydrated for his fight against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin.

This will be the second fight for Jacobs since signing with Hearn’s Matchroom Sport and his second fight with HBO as part of their multi-fight contract. Jacobs’ first fight with HBO and Hearn was against Luis Arias last November. Jacobs was taken the full 12 rounds against Arias, and it wasn’t one of his more exciting fights. The match-up was uninspiring and the fight was not interesting to watch. The ratings on HBO weren’t great either, reflecting the poor choice of opponent.

Sulecki isn’t a big name either, so the fight might not bring in huge ratings on HBO either. Jacobs needs to do his level best to try and get a knockout in this fight, because he fought like he was afraid of Arias last November. Jacobs didn’t go after Arias to try and knock him out. Jacobs spent much of the fight just boxing. Hearn didn’t do much in furthering Jacobs’ career in his first fight with his promotional company.

Hearn had sound spoken dreamily after he first signed Jacobs, saying he would do what other promoters have failed to do in turning the New Yorker into a star in the U.S. Jacobs has not progressed thus far in building his name since Hearn signed him, and he only has 2 fights left on his contract with the British promoter. Sulecki is not a big name nationwide in the U.S, so it’s already not looking good for Jacobs and Hearn. There might be a lot of Polish boxing fans that could turn out to see Jacobs tangle with Sulecki on April 28, but he’s going to need to impress.

Hearn is trying to put pressure on the Canelo-Golovkin winner to face Jacobs, but it’s hard to do that given the combination of uninspired match-making and listless fighting by the Miracle Man. Jacobs must be more aggressive and think of using his size and power more. Jacobs blew his chance of beating Golovkin by running from him for the first 6 rounds. Golovkin wasn’t pressuring Jacobs like he’d done his other opponents. Golovkin chose to box Jacobs instead of using the Dmitry Pirog blue print of applying nonstop pressure until he cracks. Even with Golovkin boxing Jacobs, he was still able to beat him. Jacobs fought like he was afraid, and he failed to go after GGG in the way that he needed to for him to win. Jacobs didn’t change his mentality for his next fight against Arias. He boxed him and didn’t try and knock him out. Arias isn’t known for being a big puncher, which is why it was disappointing to see Jacobs give ground each time he would come forward.

Jacobs hasn’t looked good since his 1st round knockout win over Peter Quillin in December 2015. Whether it’s age or simply a case of Jacobs not having the mentality to be a top-level fighter is unclear. Something is holding Jacobs back from being aggressive in the way he needs to be for him to be a star. Hearn can match Jacobs against the best, but if he doesn’t have the courage or the willingness to use his huge size for the middleweight division, then he’ll never be a star. In that case, Hearn should cut his losses and not re-sign Jacobs after his contract expires with his Matchroom Sport promotion.