By Keith Idec
Daniel Jacobs doesn’t consider his second-round technical knockout win against Sergio Mora all that controversial.
The debilitating ankle injury Mora suffered as a second knockdown sent him to the canvas was unfortunate, but Jacobs is certain he would’ve floored Mora yet again if Mora made it to his feet in the second round of their August 2015 bout at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
The 29-year-old Jacobs (31-1, 28 KOs) also had hoped to face WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (23-0, 12 KOs) in a 160-pound championship unification fight this summer, not take a Mora rematch.
Brooklyn’s “Miracle Man” still is looking forward to facing Los Angeles’ Mora (28-4-2, 9 KOs) because the former WBC super welterweight champion insulted Jacobs numerous times on social media while attempting to secure a rematch. Jacobs laughed when it was brought to his attention that the 35-year-old Mora’s aggressive strategy worked because they’re fighting again September 9 in Reading, Pennsylvania (Spike).
The WBA world middleweight champion also admitted this fight, unlike most, is “personal” for him.
“Him dropping me [in the first round] and him using all those photos and Instagram and all that other stuff, that all really kind of got under my skin,” Jacobs told BoxingScene.com. “So this fight is kind of personal for me. Yeah, it’s to quiet the doubters. Yeah, it’s to prove to everyone that I’m the better competitor. But I already know that in my heart, and he knows that as well.
“This fight, for me, will be to simply to hurt Sergio Mora and shut that trap of his, for all those little antics he’s been doing online – saying I’m not a real champion, that I’m less of a champion and all this other stuff. It was degrading, so it’s personal.”
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
