Jacobs must overcome Golovkin’s power says Jones Jr.

BoxingNews24.com

By Dan Ambrose: Roy Jones Jr. says that Daniel “Miracle Man” Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs) must find a way to overcome the punching power of IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) in their fight on March 18. That’s the first priority that Jacobs has in this fight, but not the only one. Jones Jr. also sees Golovkin as having impeccable boxing skills, and quite capable of winning with just his jab alone like he did in his win over former IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux in their fight in October 2015.

Golovkin softened Lemieux up with jabs before taking him out with body shots in round 8.
Jacobs is going to have a hard time against Golovkin because it’s such a big step up for him. Jacobs’ management has essentially had him in the tune-up circuit for six years since his loss to Dmitri Pirog in 2010.

The only decent fighter that Jacobs has fought since 2010 was against the aging Peter Quillin in 2015. Jacobs stopped Quillin in the 1st round, but he’d already been worked over by Andy Lee earlier in 2015 in April when the two of them fought to a 12 round draw. Lee appeared to win that fight after knocking Quillin down in round 7.

Jacobs is going to have problems with Golovkin’s power. Jacobs has not shown the ability to handle power shots from fighters during his career. Pirog knocked Jacobs out with a right hand to the head in the 5th. Jacobs was flat on his back with his eyes completely closed after getting nailed by Pirog. Some boxing fans think that the fight shouldn’t have been stopped by referee Robert Byrd, but he had no choice. When a fighter is lying on his back with his eyes closed for several seconds after being dropped, the referee has to stop the fight. This isn’t like the old days in boxing where a referee counts to 10 over a guy that is knocked unconscious.

The referee has to stop the fight. Jacobs has been hurt in other fights against non-punchers like Sergio Mora, Ishe Smith and Michael Walker. The reality is that Jacobs’ management has had him in the rebuilding phase of his career since his loss to Pirog. Look at the guys that Jacobs has fought since then: Jesse Orta, Robert Kliewer, Josh Luteran, Chris Fitzpatrick, Keenan Collins, Giovanni Lorenzo, Milton Nunez Jarrod Fletcher, Caleb Truax, Sergio Mora x 2 and Peter Quillin. Those were basically six years of tune-up fights for Jacobs in which he wasn’t put in with anyone dangerous apart from the aging Quillin.

The fact that Quillin was a champion in the past is more about match-making than about his talent level. Quillin beat Hassan N’Dam to win the WBO middleweight title in October 2012. N’Dam was arguably just a flawed paper champion, who was later beaten by David Lemieux.

“Golovkin is a top 10 fighter,” said Jones Jr. to Fighthub.com. “You’ve got to be on your game to box Triple G, because he is one of the best around. He just ain’t got the opponents. Once he gets the opponents in front of him, he’s going to show what he can do. That will be a tough fight for Daniel Jacobs, because he’s got to overcome his power. Not only does he bring power, but he also brings intelligence. That’s what they fail to realize about Triple G. He’s not just a power fighter. Look what he did to that fighter from Canada [David Lemieux]. He out-boxed him with a jab. The dude can box,” said Jones.

Even if Jacobs does overcome the punching power of Golovkin, he’s still going to need to deal with his boxing skills and jab of Golovkin. That’s going to be hard for Jacobs to do, because Golovkin hits so hard with his jab. I wouldn’t be surprised if he staggers Jacobs with a jab. Once Golovkin has Jacobs hurt, he’s going to finish him off right away. The light hitting Sergio Mora dropped Jacobs in the 1st round of their fight in August 2015. Jacobs was badly hurt when he got up from the knockdown. If Mora could actually punch, he would have finished him off. Now if Jacobs gets hurt like that against Golovkin, he’s going to be taken out immediately.

I compare Jacobs a lot to Dominic Wade when it comes to his ability to take punishment. Wade only lasted two rounds against Golovkin last year. It wasn’t even a fight. Golovkin let Wade land some shots so that he could get near enough to hit him. Once Golovkin was able to touch Wade with his punches, he knocked him out quickly.

“If he can get the Canelo fight and keep building his reputation, which I think he’ll get because Canelo wants the fight, if he’s successful, he can move up a level and fight bigger guys,” said former HBO commentator Larry Merchant to Fighthub.com. “I think he’s the best fighter out there. To me, he’s one of the elite fighters you must watch if you care about boxing,” said Merchant.

Golovkin is definitely one of the best fighters in boxing. He’s not number one on the pound-for-pound ratings, but he’s rated highly. Golovkin will need to beat some of the better fighters in the 160lb division for him to get the number one ranking. Taking Canelo’s scalp would help Golovkin, but getting him in the ring is going to be difficult.

Golovkin will eventually get a fight against Canelo, but not in 2017. I don’t think it’s going to happen this year. Golden Boy Promotions will give Golovkin a flat rate offer, which will likely be a take it or leave it type offer. If Golovkin doesn’t accept the offer, which I don’t think he will, then Golden Boy will steer Canelo to safer waters against whoever they have their eyes on.

There are not a lot of talented fighters in the 160lb division, so the options for fights are endless for Canelo. Unfortunately, Canelo will see his paydays decline after his May 6 fight against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. unless he’s willing to take some risks by fighting Golovkin or someone from the 168lb division. Once Canelo beats Chavez Jr., Golovkin is his best option for a big payday. I don’t know if Canelo and Golden Boy care about that.

They’ve got a good safe payday fight against Miguel Cotto for December in a rematch. Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya is already talking about a rematch between Canelo and Chavez Jr. and even a third fight. When you have a promoter talking three fights against a particular fighter before they’ve even fought them once, it tells you where their head is at. I see De La Hoya thinking money all the way.