By Keith Idec
Daniel Jacobs has more than taken notice of reports this week about continuing negotiations for a Canelo Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin fight in September.
Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez have discussed trying to make a long-awaited Alvarez-Golovkin fight this week while touring to promote the Alvarez-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. fight May 6 in Las Vegas. Alvarez is a heavy favorite to defeat his Mexican rival in their HBO Pay-Per-View main event and insists he wants to battle Golovkin in his next bout.
Keith Connolly, Jacobs’ adviser and attorney, told BoxingScene.com that constant talk of an Alvarez-Golovkin fight has motivated Jacobs even more to upset Golovkin in their middleweight title fight March 18 at Madison Square Garden.
Jacobs has been training in Oakland, California, for more than a month for the biggest fight of his nine-year pro career, which also will be televised via pay-per-view by HBO Sports.
“I just think it’s really disrespectful that they’re negotiating to fight Canelo in September,” Connolly said. “I understand that there’s a business side to the equation, but they’re totally wasting their time. Danny is looking amazing in training camp and not only is he gonna win on March 18th, we think he’s gonna knock out Triple-G in the first half of the fight.”
Like Chavez in his fight against Alvarez, Brooklyn’s Jacobs is a big underdog, slightly more than 5-1, three weeks in advance of his 12-round fight against Kazakhstan’s Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs). The 30-year-old Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs) is bigger than Golovkin, though, and generally regarded as the best combination of boxer and puncher that Golovkin, 34, has agreed to fight during a pro career that began in May 2006.
“They think they’re helping their position by negotiating this Canelo deal,” Connolly said, “but it’s only spurring Danny on to train even harder to prove everybody wrong. It has definitely given Danny extra motivation. He’s totally feeling overlooked and disrespected, and Triple-G is gonna pay for that come March 18th.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.