Jacobs: Arias Doesn't Believe Things He's Saying; He's a Weirdo!

By Keith Idec

Daniel Jacobs was so bewildered by some of the things Luis Arias was saying Friday, the former middleweight champion muted his phone during parts of a conference call to promote their November 11 fight.

The unbeaten Arias called Jacobs “overrated,” contended that the cancer survivor was never a legitimate world champion, degraded his first-round stoppage of Peter Quillin and other noteworthy wins on Jacobs’ record, and claimed Brooklyn’s Jacobs has benefited from excessive attention paid to him by the New York media. As perplexing as some of Arias’ assertions might’ve been, Jacobs (32-2, 29 KOs) wasn’t particularly surprised the confident Milwaukee native came at him nearly a month after Arias (18-0, 9 KOs) talked trash throughout the press conference to officially announce their fight.

“You’ve gotta understand, this guy’s a former TMT guy,” Jacobs said, alluding to a time earlier in Arias’ career when Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s company promoted him. “So he’s used to the brash talk. He’s used to people trying to sell fights and going over and beyond, especially if that’s not him.

“So I get it. I understand it. But my thing is I don’t even know if he even believes what he’s saying. That’s the whole confusing part of it because, yeah, you can sell a fight, but at least tell some truth to it. But he’s just telling complete lies and it’s just weird. He’s a weirdo.”

Facing Jacobs is the type of high-profile opportunity the 27-year-old Arias has long awaited. Jacobs, 30, feels Arias has gone overboard, however, while trying to make fans and media believe it’s Jacobs – not him – that isn’t prepared for what will happen during their HBO “World Championship Boxing” main event two weeks from Saturday night at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.

“This guy is talking a good one,” Jacobs said. “To the ones that really don’t know, they’ll believe it. But real recognizes real. I’ve gotta really just let this guy know exactly what’s gonna happen November 11th. And all that talk – we can talk a good one. But at the end of the day, it’s about what we do inside the ring. Every fighter that he [beat] had a losing record. So all this experience that’s claiming he got from the professional world, I have no idea what he’s talking about. … But like I said, I understand it. I get it. I know that he’s trying to hype this fight and hype himself up, ultimately, because he doesn’t believe all the things he’s even saying.”

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