By Steve Kim

The fight that many boxing fans were yearning for didn't take place on December 10th as originally planed, but it will be happening on March 18th at the Madison Square Garden in New York, when Gennady Golovkin (36-0, 33KOs) puts his IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC middleweight belts on the line against mandatory challenger Danny Jacobs (32-1, 19KOs).

Golovkin was last seen in the ring back in September, when he stopped unbeaten Kell Brook in five rounds. Brook, who holds the IBF welterweight title, had moved up by thirteen pounds to take the fight. Golovkin made his IBF mandatory defense in April with a two round destruction of Dominic Wade.

Jacobs had only one fight in 2016, which also took place in September, and he stopped former world champion Sergio Mora in seven rounds. Mora went down five times in the fight.

Many observers are of the opinion that Jacobs is the best foe that Golovkin has faced thus far in his professional career.

To which Golovkin's often out-spoken trainer, Abel Sanchez, states - "Go back and look at the last five fights. Everybody right before the fight is the best he's fought. (Mathew) Macklin was supposed to be a big test."

" But yes, (Jacobs) is he most gifted, best athlete, the best puncher. I think he's a sharp puncher. He may not be a (Curtis) Stevens, a thudding puncher but he can crack and he can box. He's had a mishap with (Dmitry) Pirog but he's absolutely the best fighter, period, that we've fought."

Jacobs has won twelve fights in a row since suffering his sole career defeat, a fifth round TKO loss to Pirog in July of 2010. Ironically, Golovkin was scheduled to face Pirog in his HBO debut back in 2012. Pirog, who was dealing with a serious back injury that ultimately ended his career, withdrew from the contest and was replaced by Grzegorz Proksa.

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.