Golovkin comments on Jacobs fight

By Allan Fox: Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) says he has a lot of respect for Daniel Jacobs (32-2, 29 KOs) after sending down to his second defeat of his career last Saturday night in beating him by a 12 round unanimous decision. Golovkin respects Jacobs for getting up off the canvas after he was knocked down in round 4 of their fight. Golovkin says he doesn’t mind that Jacobs skipped out on the IBF’s mandated same day weigh-in on the day of the fight.

Golovkin says himself has respect for boxing, and he says it’s Jacobs’ problem that he chose NOT to be weighed in. Jacobs later said that he didn’t want to get up at 6:00 A.M. to be weighed in, and he didn’t want to have to get to 170. Jacobs’ weight on fight night last Saturday wasn’t revealed by HBO Boxing.

Golovkin weighed in at 170 on the night of the fight. Jacobs looked considerably bigger than Golovkin during the fight. Jacobs said at the post fight press conference that he weighed 175 for the fight. With the way that Jacobs was able to blow off the weigh-in on Saturday, he gained an advantage over Golovkin. It was a sneaky move on Jacobs, but it still didn’t get him the victory.

Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez says that Golovkin may vacate his middleweight titles after he beats WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders. What this means is that if Golovkin and Jacobs face each other a second time, it will potentially be without titles on the line. That means no same day weigh-in, not that it matters. Jacobs lost once after skipping out on the IBF’s same day weigh-in, and he’ll probably lose again.

“That’s his problem,” said Golovkin when asked about his thoughts on Jacobs choosing not to be weighed in by the IBF in their weigh-in last Saturday morning. “I respect my sport. I respect boxing. It’s his problem. It doesn’t matter to me,” said Golovkin.

“He’s a good fighter. I’m ready. If his manager/promoter talks with my promoter,” said Golovkin when asked if he would fight Jacobs again. “Not a lot,” said Golovkin when asked whether he was confused by Jacobs switching to southpaw. He stands southpaw, and I knock him down with right hands. I want it more. I think he lose control. I want like crazy fight. I want this. He don’t have choice.

Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez felt that Jacobs was ineffective when he switched to southpaw. “I think Gennady was more effective when he switched to southpaw. His size may have had a lot to do with that. That’s the way these fights at the elite level should be. Someone needs to adjust, and someone needs to win rounds where the other guy can’t make adjustments,” said Sanchez.

Jacobs need to stay in the same stance when he fights, because he didn’t do much at all when he switched to southpaw. If Jacobs keeps doing that in the future, he may end up getting knocked out. All it would have taken for Golovkin to KO him would be for him to come forward and let his hands go with a sustained flurry like the one that he did in round 4 in knocking Jacobs down.

“I respect Daniel. I knocked Daniel down,” said Golovkin about Jacobs at the final post fight press conference. “He got back up. I need 12 rounds too. It was a very good fight, a very good experience. Maybe it wait too long. Maybe one punch, one lucky punch. Sometimes it’s difficult. Daniel, he’s a world champion. He’s a very good fighter. I feel very good right now. I feel a lot of power, a lot of speed. I want more. I think, OK, right now it’s drama show. Daniel, he’s very good moving. He’s a very good fighter. He’s very smart. This is life, of course. Right now, Daniel broke my record. I told you, I respect this guy. He’s my favorite fighter. I need 12 rounds. I need 12 rounds. I think so, yes. He’s my best opponent. He’s very smart. He had a very good boxing IQ. He’s moving. He don’t panic. He don’t lose control. He’s very good,” said Golovkin.

“Hopefully, this is my dream fight. My goal is all the belts in the middleweight division. Billy Joe Saunders is my last step for my dream, “When asked if he wants to fight Billy Joe Saunders, said Golovkin.

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“If we could do it again, I’d love to,” said Jacobs. “I definitely think I hurt him two times in the fight. I saw him back up when I hit him with a body shot. He’s a man. When I was looking at him during the face off, that’s all I seen. I seen a man that can be hurt,” said Jacobs.

There might be a rematch between Golovkin and Jacobs in the future, but it will depend on how the two of them do in their next couple of fights. Golovkin will likely beat Saunders and Saul Canelo Alvarez. If Jacobs faces someone good that can punch like David Lemieux, then I can see him losing. Golden Boy Promotions and Eye of the Tiger Promotions, the promoters for Lemieux, would likely take a fight against Jacobs in a second after seeing how he was hurt by Golovkin. Lemieux would go after Jacobs and he would have a very good chance of stopping him in the early rounds. I don’t see Jacobs beating Lemieux or Canelo. Those guys wouldn’t bother trying to box like Golovkin did against Jacobs. They would go right after Jacobs after seeing how fragile his chin is.

“Probably 175,” said Jacobs about his weight for the Golovkin fight.

“That’s not up to me,” said Jacobs about his next fight. “It’s up to my team to decide. I’m confident I can be the best middleweight in the world. I really feel I got the victory tonight,” said Jacobs.

“This is the same guy, but the opponents are getting a lot better,” said Sanchez about GGG. “Daniel was a champion. He’s still a champion in my mind. If he gets the fight in Kazakhstan and Gennady vacates once he wins against Saunders, Daniel will be champion at least one of the belts. He’s probably, other than Golovkin, he’s probably better than anyone else. He beats every other middleweight. No, I just think the opposition is getting better. After Gennady knocked him down, he never lost control. He was in the fight. He got caught with a big shot and he retaliated. But we believed that was the kind of fight it was going to be. Daniel wasn’t going to roll over. The guy is resilient. The guy did what he needed to do. After he knocked him down, he looked at Gennady, ‘Come on, let’s go.’ That was good for boxing. That’s good for Gennady. With this fight, we gave the fans what they wanted to see. The drama show was a 12 round drama show. We hope to be in the ring in June. That fight sets up the fight in September so that we can really see who the best middleweight in the world is,” said Sanchez.