Daniel Jacobs should be the most popular US boxer

[Nash out]

Seems like a cool guy, great boxer, top 3/5 in his division, must have plenty of money, I'm sure he's doing alright. Not everybody wants to be a massive celeb anyway, besides, loads of famous people have absolutely no talent whatsoever. Reality stars. poor musicians in crap bands, James Corden, Ed Sheeran, etc, etc, etc.

[The Problem]

He's a very good elite fighter, but nothing special...

[Chrismart]

Thing about Jacobs though he never really lived up to his hype never became the man in his division and never looked like he would after he came back

Yeah agreed. He never quite had enough to be the main man in the division. I thought his fight with Derevyanchenko was a close one too.

[The Big Dunn]

Andre Ward was squeaky clean religious guy with family value the ************* would love too and an olympic pedigree and undefeated and the concensus p4p #1 but still didn't cross over

That's not what works in this country

Agree 100%. It might work for Tim Tebow and Roger Staubach but Babe Ruth, Tiger, Jordan, Ali were definitely not squeaky clean kind of dudes. They had some edge to them.

What also hurt Danny is he isn't the best. Floyd was the best. Right now Danny is ok, but he isn't better than GGG or Canelo so its hard for him to be the most popular fighter.

[paulf]

never (to my knowledge) trashes other boxers, is a "Yes Sir, No Sir" kind of gu

You've just answered your own question.

Remember the Pacquiao-Mosley build up? Probably the least interesting fight build up of all time. When guys don't talk any ****, the stakes are lower.

What is going to make a more dramatic fight at the opening bell:

"Man, he's a good friend and I have nothing but respect for him. I just hope to put on a good performance and come home with the win."

Or

"Fuck that guy. I'm going to knock him out in the first round because he's nothing!"

When a boxer badmouths a guy and says he's nothing, he's putting himself out there to either back up his talk or eat crow and be humiliated. That's why people were always tuning in to see Broner and Mayorga even though they usually lose.

Boxers are like musicians; you can have all the talent in the world, but some people are stars and some people aren't. You have to be talented at being talented to be a star. Floyd tried to be a good-guy early in his career but it didn't take, but once he put on the bad-guy mask he became the biggest name in boxing.

Jacobs is happy just being who he is, and his level of stardom is a reflection of that.

[LetOutTheCage]

If he was british he would definitely be very very popular, not just because of his image and how he speaks so clearly, but because of his cancer story.

True, I think Hearn would be smart to bring some of these US fighters to fight in the UK to get a bit more exposure. Jacobs should be more popular than he currently is, seems like one of the genuine nice guys.

[Combat Talk Radio]

The guy is smart, is a very good public speaker, never (to my knowledge) trashes other boxers, is a "Yes Sir, No Sir" kind of guy, no scandals, no drug use, no PED failures, and he has the whole I Beat Cancer backstory. And he's a very good boxer, only lost to elites like GGG and Canelo and the mysterious Pirog (and he had cancer at that time).

The guy is squeaky clean. Why isn't he doing commercials, or making appearances on TV talk shows?

What other US boxer could possibly be more appealing to everyone? And let's get real here...he is a non-threatening black man, unlike Wilder who has made some poorly thought out remarks IMO.

What's up with dat?

Drama sells. Remember, Terence Crawford got MORE popular with boxing elitists after he tried to beat the crap out of a car shop owner who was trying to help him.

[Inspired]

That’s a nice essay. I’m black I like basketball it’s more accessible and i have a better chance at profiting from it. Easy. No need for xenophobia, boxing isn’t as popular not because we don’t love ourselves but we dominate other sports too.

Moreover, wtf are you talking about? It seems like youre talking out of your bum. Boxing is less accessible than sports that have teams in your city. I live in Chicago, there hasn’t been an a-side boxer here in decades. So do i choose to drive to St. Louis or Cincy to see fights, or fly to Vegas? Or do i go to the bulls that play every Tuesday and Thursday 10 minutes from home. It’s just inaccessible which is why fandom has decreased

I agree with your second paragraph too. I've actually made that point a few times myself. Eg a hardcore fan living in NY isnt going to take a plane to watch a card in Vegas and vice versa. Whereas in the UK those type of fans will happily make a day of it and drive from manchester to london and be back by 2-3am.
I could obv have gone more in depth on the various types of black boxing fans, there are plenty of good ones too..purely because boxing is a good sport.
That affects ticket sales which in turn makes the end product not look so good on tv, which in turn affects the buy rate.
furthermore, they've seen it all before.
However Eddie Hearn did use that example a few yrs back when he talked about what he would do if he was in the US (long before dazn). I think that interview/question inspired him a little bit to start gravitating towards American boxing. He was asked why the atmosphere is dead in the US and said its because they're always putting on cards in the same places..ny, vegas, la. Whereas he could put on a card in Newcastle, liverpool, nottingham etc and the atmosphere would be second to none.

Now when im talking about the present AVE black boxing fan...
I'm talking about those real twisted ldbc types who bring racism and xenophobia into it. what ive seen, dominated every forum, youtube videos, comments, twitter..is the same type of fan.

end of the day, look at Wilder. No support, no hype, no promotion..until aj came onto the scene.
Ask yourself why so many black boxing fans suddenly woke up and started this 'us vs you' ****.

Also, i saw racism between mexicans and blacks back in the gbp days and then when al haymon started the pbc.
they're basically like the hooligan culture in the UK in football.

in the UK boxing culture is fun. it's just all memes, chisora, whyte, tyan booth, dave allen, those type are popular.

[N/A]

The guy is smart, is a very good public speaker, never (to my knowledge) trashes other boxers, is a "Yes Sir, No Sir" kind of guy, no scandals, no drug use, no PED failures, and he has the whole I Beat Cancer backstory. And he's a very good boxer, only lost to elites like GGG and Canelo and the mysterious Pirog (and he had cancer at that time).

The guy is squeaky clean. Why isn't he doing commercials, or making appearances on TV talk shows?

What other US boxer could possibly be more appealing to everyone? And let's get real here...he is a non-threatening black man, unlike Wilder who has made some poorly thought out remarks IMO.

What makes you think the American public wants a non-threatening black man?

The biggest American draws in modern boxing history, Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather, were the complete opposite of everything you're describing.

The public wants danger. The public wants charisma. The public wants you to win your big fights. Jacobs fails in all of these departments.

He also fought on HBO during the dying days and now fights on an app nobody has. He lost to GGG and he lost to Canelo. There's not much else for him to do that people will care about.

[Afi23]

The Alvarez fight showed what Danny lacks. With Canelo tiring in the late rounds, Jacobs wouldn't or couldn't step it up and go for broke. Jacobs is a very good fighter, he's just not a "special" fighter.

Agree, I like Jacobs but I didn't feel like he "left it all in the ring" against Canelo. I felt like he was "hungrier" against GGG.