By Keith Idec

Daniel Jacobs is very willing to fight Gennady Golovkin again.

Jacobs’ manager doesn’t believe the feeling is mutual. Keith Connolly told BoxingScene.com that he expects Golovkin’s handlers to try to keep him away from a warranted rematch with Jacobs at least until Golovkin gets the fight he really wants – a lucrative showdown with Canelo Alvarez.

“We’ll take on Golovkin if he’s willing to,” Connolly said. “Or if Canelo and Triple-G fight in September, we’re willing to take the winner of that. But I think Danny’s options are wide open right now, and I actually think he’ll be the most avoided guy in the division. I think it kind of flip-flopped. Golovkin was the most avoided guy, but I don’t think Golovkin’s side wants any part of Danny until they get the big-money fight with Canelo.”

Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) was a 7-1 favorite to beat Jacobs (32-2, 29 KOs), but the courageous cancer survivor gave Golovkin the toughest fight of his career a week ago at Madison Square Garden. Their 12-round fight became so competitive in its second half, many boxing fans have spent the past week arguing about who won.

Golovkin won a unanimous decision (115-112, 115-112, 114-113), but Jacobs boxed well, got up from a fourth-round knockdown and ended Golovkin’s 23-fight, eight-year knockout streak.

The promotional plan for Golovkin, who’ll turn 35 on April 8, is to fight WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (24-0, 12 KOs) in a full 160-pound title unification fight June 10 in Golovkin’s native Kazakhstan. If Golovkin beats England’s Saunders, he would like to finally fight Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) in September.

If Alvarez beats countryman Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (50-2-1, 32 KOs, 1 NC) on May 6 in Las Vegas, but doesn’t fight Golovkin in September, a rematch with Jacobs would be the biggest middleweight fight available for Golovkin.

“If the Canelo fight doesn’t happen,” Connolly said, “I think the only other fight the fans would wanna see with Golovkin is a rematch with Danny Jacobs because it was such a good fight. I have no idea where their heads are right now, but I could definitely see them making excuses about why not to fight Danny again. I could totally see Danny being avoided because he’s Triple-G’s biggest threat.

“And nobody can tell me that the odds wouldn’t be 50-50 or close to 50-50 next time, after the way Danny performed in the second half of that fight, once he got his legs underneath him. And I think the knockdown actually helped Danny. I think it woke him up, and it made him mad. And now that Danny has the confidence that he can compete at that level and actually out-fight Golovkin in certain areas of his own game, I can’t see Danny losing a rematch.”

The 30-year-old Jacobs’ schedule for the remainder of 2017 will depend at least partially on Golovkin’s availability.

“If Golovkin is gonna fight in June, I’d like to get Danny in the ring by July or August,” said Connolly, who scored Jacobs a 115-112 winner over Golovkin. “And then I could see a Golovkin rematch at the end of the year. And I could see a scenario where Danny rests a few months and then we still fight Golovkin at the end of the year. You know, we go straight to him.

“We’re definitely not scared of Golovkin. We definitely want that rematch because I think all we have to do is go in there and do pretty much what we did during the second half of the fight. And if we do that, I think we win the Golovkin fight easily. I think Danny can beat him nine round to three, 10 rounds to two next time.”

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