By Edward Chaykovsky, photo by Tom Hogan/Hoganphotos.
Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya, who handles Mexican superstar Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs), believes Daniel Jacobs showed too much respect in the first half of the fight with Gennady Golovkin this past Saturday.
Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs), for the first time in his career, went the twelve round distance in a very close fight to win a twelve round decision over Jacobs to retain the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBC middleweight titles at New York's Madison Square Garden.
The scores for the fight were 115-112, 115-112, 114-113. Prior to Jacobs, Golovkin had stopped his last 23 opponents.
De La Hoya felt Jacobs did very well in the second half of the fight and looked very strong, but was far too cautious and showed too much respect in the first six rounds. Jacobs was dropped in the fourth.
“Jacobs gave Golovkin too much respect. I’ve always said if you’re a fighter who gets into great shape, you can handle any pressure, any type of punch from anybody,” De La Hoya said to Los Angeles Times. “You have to be in shape to stand toe to toe, and that’s the mistake Jacobs made: In the second half of the fight, he did terrific, but in the first half of the fight, he gave Golovkin too much respect.
“Mark my words: When Canelo and Golovkin gets made, Canelo’s not going to respect him one bit. Right from the start.”
The fight all depends on Canelo beating countryman Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. at a catch-weight of 164.5-pounds, on May 6 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“I’ve always been confident in Canelo’s abilities,” De La Hoya said. “He’s only getting stronger. He’s only getting faster. He hasn’t peaked. And he’s looking very strong, especially at this weight. I’ve always stated Canelo is a superior fighter than most, if not all fighters, out there and it will be an explosive, terrific fight.”
"We’re ready to make this fight. We want to make this fight. Now we have to wait and see what happens with Chavez on May 6.”
