By Keith Idec

Daniel Jacobs suspects that he won’t encounter the best Gennady Golovkin that ever existed Saturday night.

After watching Kell Brook have much-discussed success against Golovkin before the unbeaten star stopped Brook six months ago in London, Jacobs believes he’ll catch Golovkin at the right time when they meet at Madison Square Garden. Golovkin, who’ll defend his IBF, WBA, IBO and WBC middleweight titles against Jacobs, will turn 35 three weeks after their fight and, according to Jacobs, has shown signs of decline.

“[Carl] Froch said it best when he said Triple-G’s best years are behind him,” Jacobs said during a conference call Tuesday. “I kind of agree with that, even though I think he’s still a dangerous fighter and he’s still a big threat. I do think that this is perfect timing for me.”

The 30-year-old Jacobs likened this scenario to when he fought former WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin (32-1-1, 23 KOs), whom Jacobs knocked out in the first round 15 months ago at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.

“It’s similar to when I fought Peter Quillin,” Jacobs said. “You know, Gabe Rosado, in my opinion, was on the verge of beating him [in October 2013], if he didn’t get that cut on his eye. So I was like, ‘Man, I hope this guy doesn’t do it. I wanna be the guy that does it.’ Because around that time, I was calling Peter Quillin out. It’s a similar thing for me. Even though Kell Brook wasn’t close to beating Triple-G, he did expose a lot of different things, as far as movement, speed, ring generalship. He just didn’t have the sheer size to be effective, especially once that eye got hurt he was done for.

“But he did, for me, in my opinion, expose a lot of different things. I don’t know if I have a similar style, like Kell Brook. But I do know that I bring a lot to the table, also, that would be a problem to Triple-G. But like I said, it’s just about going in there and proving, going in there and getting the job done. I could talk about it all day, but Saturday night, you know, it’s up to me to step up to the plate.”

Kazakhstan’s Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) is an 8-1 favorite over Brooklyn’s Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs) entering their 12-round HBO Pay-Per-View main event Saturday night (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT; $64.95 in HD).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.