Via Jim Calfa: High-ranked super-middleweight contenders Daniel ‘Miracle Man’ Jacobs and John ‘The Gorilla’ Ryder will make headlines next month on DAZN on February 12 at Alexandra Palace in London, England.
Jacobs will be fired 15 months from his last match against Gabriel Rosado in November 2020. Rosado, for his part, last fought in September, beating Jozef Jurko.
The Jacobs vs Ryder fight is part of DAZN’s reveal of their eight-event schedule for 2022. Though it’s certainly not the best of the title fights DAZN deploys for the Year. new, but it’s not the worst. There are a number of pairs that this writer would rank below this fight, but not many.
‘The Gorilla’ Ryder is ranked #4 WBA #11 WBC, #14 WBO super middleweight, and he needs a win to keep his spot for a belt.
Ryder is an option for Canelo if he wins
A dream come true for 33-year-old Ryder (30-5, 17 KOs) would be for him to overcome fading ‘Miracle Man’ Jacobs to take a title against undisputed champion Canelo Alvarez.
With that said, it’s still unclear if Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs) will return to 168-lb to defend his four belts.
Canelo may choose to try a short stint at cruiser before moving to 175, but that is still being decided by him and his coach/manager Eddy Reynoso.
If Canelo returns to super-middleweight, the winner of the Jacobs vs Ryder fight will be able to challenge him for one of his titles.
Former IBF/WBA middleweight champion Jacobs (37-3, 30 KOs) has looked pretty good in the past in his last two games since receiving a massive multi-million dollar payday against superstar Canelo Alvarez in May 2019.
Jacobs will join the fight with Ryder after his controversial 12-round decision win over Gabe Rosado in November 2020 in Hollywood, Florida.
The fight between Jacobs and Rosado was shown live on DAZN, and it looks like the referees awarded the win to the wrong boxer that night. Rosado wanted it more than Jacobs and bought it higher than him, but the referees gave it to A fighter Danny.
You could argue that if Rosado hadn’t had 13 losses on his record against Jacobs, he’d have been awarded the win by the judges because he looked like the better boxer.
Some question whether Jacobs has lost his ambition due to the BIG amount of money he has earned and is now in motion to earn the easy paydays he has had since he won the lottery by match against Canelo.
Does Jacobs have anything left?
Jacobs turns 35 next month on February 3, and although he still has his punching prowess, he has looked coy in his last two bouts since losing to Canelo.
New Yorker Jacobs is ranked #2 WBO, #3 WVC, #8 IBF, #10 WBA with 168, and he wants nothing better than a rematch with Canelo.
Jacobs narrowly lost in round 12 by unanimous decision by 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113.
Danny could have beaten Canelo if he had started faster in the first half of the competition, as he eliminated those rounds by fighting too passively. That was the downfall of Jacobs after his loss to Gennadiy Golovkin in 2017.
Despite his considerable size advantage over Golovkin, Jacobs put little effort into the offensive during the first six innings of that fight.
By the time Jacobs started fighting with a sense of urgency starting in the seventh inning, he was very well behind in the fight, having skipped the first six innings.
Although Jacobs fought well enough to win five of the last six rounds, he didn’t do enough to win them all. As a result, he lost to GGG by a unanimous decision in the 12th round. After the fight, Jacobs complained that he should have won.
Instead of looking closely at the board and admitted that he fought timidly In the first six innings, Jacobs bitterly complained for a long time about how he deserved the win. Like in his fight with Canelo, Jacobs didn’t win as he dropped out in the first half in both competitions.
If Jacobs believes in Canelo giving him a rematch, he should get that imaginary thought out of his head because it’s not going to happen. Canelo won’t be revisiting his second fight with Jacobs, and it’s remarkable how little the New Yorker has done since their battle in 2019.
