By Keith Idec
LAS VEGAS – Demetrius Andrade feels Daniel Jacobs did enough Saturday night to upset Canelo Alvarez.
One thing Jacobs definitely didn’t do was land enough jabs. That, Andrade promised, won’t be an issue if he gets the opportunity to challenge Alvarez later this year.
Andrade discussed some of what his strategy would be against Alvarez with DAZN announcers Brian Kenny and Sergio Mora after Alvarez beat Jacobs by unanimous decision Saturday night.
“That’s the thing – every round could be different,” Andrade explained. “I don’t have a game plan to go and do one thing, one particular thing, the whole 12 rounds. Things changes. Things changes all the time, so I can’t sit here and tell you what I’m gonna do – other than when I get in there. But one thing I will do is put a jab in his face all night – all night.”
CompuBox credited Jacobs with landing only 42-of-290 jabs – just 3½ per round and 26 fewer than Alvarez (68-of-202). Alvarez also connected on more power punches than Jacobs – 120-of-264 to 89-of-359 – on his way to winning at T-Mobile Arena.
Andrade still left ringside convinced Jacobs edged Alvarez in their fight for Alvarez’s WBA and WBC and Jacobs’ IBF middleweight titles.
“I definitely was entertained by the fight – two guys that have a great IQ,” Andrade said. “And, you know, Danny Jacobs, I thought he did what he had to do to pull it off. But, you know, I’m not the judge. Canelo definitely came to fight. It was a great display of boxing, for boxing itself.”
The 31-year-old Andrade (27-0, 17 KOs) is scheduled to oppose Poland’s Maciej Sulecki (28-1, 11 KOs) on June 29 at Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island, Andrade’s hometown. Andrade, a 6-feet-1 southpaw, hopes a victory over Sulecki moves him into position to challenge Alvarez for middleweight supremacy.
By then, a deal already could be in place for Alvarez (52-1-2, 35 KOs) to battle Gennadiy Golovkin for the third time. Kazakhstan’s Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KOs) first must overcome Canada’s Steve Rolls (19-0, 10 KOs) on June 8 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
“I’ve got Sulecki next and he’s a guy that fought Danny Jacobs,” Andrade said. “He’s a top guy. Get him out the way and, you know, Canelo should be the guy.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
