Jacobs To Reveal Network/Streaming Decision In Next Few Weeks

By Keith Idec

By late Saturday night, two of the three potential opponents that most interest Daniel Jacobs will have headlined cards in New York.

Soon enough, the Brooklyn native will make a network/streaming decision that’ll make one of those opponents more likely to fight him. The IBF middleweight champion confronted Canelo Alvarez in the ring last Saturday night at Madison Square, but Alvarez is far from Jacobs’ only option.

Representatives for DAZN, ESPN, FOX and Showtime have expressed serious interest in working with Jacobs in 2019.

His last fight – a hard-fought, split-decision victory over stablemate Sergiy Derevyanchenko – marked the end of Jacobs’ exclusive multi-fight agreement with HBO. Jacobs’ past three fights have been broadcast by HBO, which announced about a month before Jacobs defeated Derevyanchenko (12-1, 10 KOs) that the premium cable network would shift the focus of its sports programming away from broadcasting boxing.

Jacobs joined HBO in September 2017 as part of a promotional partnership with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing USA. The 31-year-old Jacobs (35-2, 29 KOs) is expected to continue working with England’s Hearn.

“Danny and I have had several meetings over the last few weeks, discussing his next move,” Keith Connolly, Jacobs’ manager, told BoxingScene.com and ESPN.com on Saturday. “All major platforms have shown great interest in signing him, and his decision will come down to which entity paves the way for him to be in mega-fights and building his brand. Our main targets in the immediate future are fights with Canelo, the GGG rematch and Charlo. Our business structure will remain the same, so any move we decide to make will involve Eddie Hearn and Al Haymon. But in the end, Danny and I will go in the direction that brings him the most lucrative opportunities. Danny will be announcing his decision in the next few weeks.”

If Jacobs were to sign with DAZN, he could challenge Alvarez (51-1-2, 35 KOs) in what would be a lucrative middleweight title unification fight May 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Now that he has beaten England’s Rocky Fielding to win a portion of the WBA’s super middleweight title, Mexico’s Alvarez also could remain at 168 pounds for his next fight. Jacobs told BoxingScene.com last week that he would have no problem moving up from 160 pounds to 168 to face Alvarez next.

Jacobs also has wanted a rematch with Golovkin since the former champion out-pointed him in their closely contested, middleweight championship match in March 2017 at Madison Square Garden. Whereas Alvarez is contractually committed to DAZN for 10 more fights, Kazakhstan’s Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KOs) is in the process of deciding among the same promotional/network options as Jacobs.

Charlo, meanwhile, must defeat Russian southpaw Matt Korobov (28-1, 14 KOs) in their 12-round main event Saturday night to remain in the mix to fight Alvarez, Golovkin or Jacobs.

Houston’s Charlo (27-0, 21 KOs) and Jacobs were involved in a highly publicized confrontation in a Barclays Center hallway March 3. That incident intensified interest in a middleweight bout between them.

FOX will air the Charlo-Korobov bout as the main event of a tripleheader scheduled to start at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

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