By Edward Chaykovsky
Retired fighter Johnathon Banks, who is now the head trainer for former heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko, believes Daniel Jacobs is the toughest opponent Genandy Golovkin could face at this moment.
He feels Jacobs will be a tougher opponent than Mexican superstar Saul "Canelo" Alvarez.
Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) will defend his IBF, WBC, WBA, IBO middleweight belts against Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs) on Saturday night at New York's Madison Square Garden.
If Golovkin wins, and Canelo (48-1-1, 34 KOs) defeats Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on May 6th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas - there are serious talks to have the two fighters collide this September.
In the opinion of Banks, Golovkin - should he get past Jacobs - will have absolutely no problems with beating Canelo, because the trainer has a higher regard for Jacobs as an all-around middleweight fighter.
"First of all, I think Jacobs is going to be Golovkin’s hardest, toughest and slickest opponent up to today. This is going to be his biggest test. He has a guy his size and he’s fast, slick and is a good boxer. I think it’s going to be a hard fight," Banks told On The Ropes Boxing Radio.
"Golovkin does have the advantage with the punching power but Jacobs can punch too. Punch by punch numbers, I don’t think Jacobs punches as hard as hard as ‘GGG’ but he doesn’t have to punch as hard as him, as long as he can punch. That’s going to be a very tough fight, this is going to be the biggest test for Golovkin."
"If ‘GGG’ can get past Jacobs, he will have no problems with Canelo. Jacobs is the tougher fight between the two, I think between Canelo and Jacobs, Jacobs is the tougher fight. That’s nothing negative towards Canelo at all, I think Canelo is a world class fighter but Jacobs is just a little bit bigger. Jacobs is a solid 160lb’er and Canelo is not."
