Jacobs' Manager: Don't Want Age, Focus Excuses From Golovkin

By Keith Idec, photo by Tom Hogan/Hoganphotos

NEW YORK – Gennady Golovkin and Daniel Jacobs haven’t come remotely close to talking trash throughout this promotion.

The well-mannered middleweights remained completely polite before, during and after a press conference Monday to promote their showdown Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. Kazakhstan’s Golovkin and Brooklyn’s Jacobs clearly have a lot of respect for one another and are approaching promoting their HBO Pay-Per-View main event as if the intriguing nature of their matchup will sell itself.

Keith Connolly, Jacobs’ manager, did say something provocative, however, when it was his turn to speak Monday during a press conference in The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

“Danny’s ready,” Connolly said. “I hope Gennady’s ready. I hope he’s taking Danny seriously because come Saturday night, we don’t wanna hear excuses when Danny wins. That Gennady overlooked him because of Canelo. That he’s 35 and he’s getting old. Danny wants to beat the best Triple-G, and I think that’s gonna happen Saturday night.”

Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs), who’ll turn 35 on April 8, is listed by most Internet and Las Vegas sports books as an 8-1 favorite over the 30-year-old Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs). The IBF/WBC/WBA/IBO middleweight champion also has been asked repeatedly about boxing Canelo Alvarez in September since his fight against Jacobs was finalized three months ago.

None of that will matter, Connolly cautioned, come Saturday night.

“Well, it’s real simple,” Connolly said. “There’s five days left till all the talk, all the opinions, are meaningless. It’s just gonna be Danny and Gennady in the ring. They’re gonna settle who’s the best middleweight in the world. I really think this is gonna be a tremendous fight. I think it’s gonna be one of the biggest events of the year. And I know Danny’s ready. Danny is laser-focused. We brought him out to San Francisco for this training camp and he’s never trained harder than he’s trained. And he’s never been more into the moment, as he is right now.

“So I expect him to come out Saturday night and shine, show you guys a lot of things that nobody’s expecting. I think he has just as much power as Gennady. I think it’s gonna be a case of who fights smarter and who lands the first big combination, that’s really gonna control the fight and dictate the outcome of the night. And I think this is Danny’s coming-out party.”

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