Via David Walker: The last time, in November 2020, Daniel Jacobs fell far short of a stellar performance against Gabe Rosado. He lacked the motivation and energy that helped him win the WBA and IBF middleweight titles.
Jacobs has faced many questions about his desires, following that performance in his 40th professional game. These things are not without foundation; he has faced the best there, has made a huge fortune and is in the 13th year of his career.
Boxing has seen many men start to age as they enter the twilight of their careers, and Marvin Hagler cites it as being hard to get out of bed to go to work at 5 a.m. when you’re wearing it. Silk pajamas are timeless.
Jacobs had to answer all of these questions on Saturday in front of British hopeful John Ryder in North London.
Maybe a 15-month break would be good for Jacobs; he will appear refreshed, recharged and recalibrated. The bookies saw him as the favorite, a world-class boxer a level above Ryder, bound to find a way through.
After the opening bell rang, Jacobs dealt with technique and polish, handling Ryder as well as handling fighters of his caliber in the past. By round 6, he was ahead of the streets. That’s when Ryder made some necessary adjustments.
Ryder is now fighting inside, take it to Jacobs, whose speed seems to have disintegrated. Ryder was in his promotion phase at the time. Jacobs briefly switched to Southpaw in round 8, which didn’t bring any real success, so switched back to mainstream for rounds 11 and 12, allowing him to return to the fight.
It was a close encounter with the truth, but most people seem to think Jacobs did enough to make the judge’s decision. As usual in boxing, Great Britain is no exception, the decision rests with the host boxer.
Ryder won by split decision. The result is not a scam, a robbery or anything like that. Jacobs was clearly lackluster, and as a foreigner, you can’t skip some rounds and expect to come out on top when it makes it to the judges’ scorecards.
For Ryder, now has opened the door to claim his version of the super middleweight world title, which he deserves more than anything after a tough couple of years. Ryder said it himself in his post-match interview, saying he didn’t want to fight the Jacobs of five years ago.
This is the problem for Jacobs, not the boxer he used to be. As for where he goes next, that remains to be seen. Before the game, Jacobs insisted a loss wouldn’t be the end of the road.
Saying that he is a world-class boxer and still appreciated by the market. After the fight, Jacobs may need time to reconsider. If that’s the end, Jacobs will be fondly remembered.
As an outstanding boxer who has surpassed the odds to win multiple world titles and that is a much bigger achievement than most people.
