By Keith Idec
LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez received another reminder Wednesday of the significant height difference between him and Canelo Alvarez.
Jacobs, who stands 6 feet even, towered over the 5-feet-8 Alvarez as they stood face-to-face for everyone to see at the end of their final press conference Wednesday at MGM Grand. Alvarez still isn’t the least bit concerned about Jacobs’ size advantage.
“Without a doubt, he’s the bigger fighter,” Alvarez said. “But it’s never bothered me if they’re bigger, they’re smaller, they’re faster, they’re slower. It doesn’t bother me. I’m a fighter that has a lot of abilities, a lot of experience and knows how to adapt.”
Each of Alvarez’s last three opponents were substantially taller than the WBA/WBC middleweight champion.
That didn’t stop him from dominating 6-feet-1 Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on his way to winning a lopsided, 12-round unanimous decision in May 2017 at T-Mobile Arena. In his last fight, the 28-year-old Alvarez (51-1-2, 35 KOs) moved up to the super middleweight limit of 168 pounds and stopped 6-feet-3 Rocky Fielding in the third round December 15 at Madison Square Garden.
In between those two wins, Alvarez boxed to a controversial split draw and won a debatable majority decision against 5-feet-10½ Gennadiy Golovkin.
The 32-year-old Jacobs (35-2, 29 KOs) expects that once Alvarez encounters him Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena, it’ll be more than just his height that makes Mexico’s Alvarez adjust his game plan.
“I really don’t know how Canelo views me,” Jacobs said. “I know Golovkin is bigger than Canelo and he was thought to be maybe one of the strongest fighters Canelo has ever faced. But for me, when he looks into my eyes and when he’s standing next to me, I’m not sure if he’s engaging the same type of game plan because I’m a big force and I’m a big guy – with skills and with speed and with ring IQ. So, we’re not gonna be expecting Canelo Alvarez to go in there and back us up. But we’re going to adjust, to see exactly what he brings to the table. But in doing that, we’re also gonna implement our game plan.”
DAZN will stream Alvarez-Jacobs, a 12-round middleweight title unification fight, as the main event of a card set to start at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.