Is a Move to Light Heavyweight a Good Move for Daniel Jacobs?
According to The Athletic, promoter Eddie Hearn has some rather ambitious plans for Daniel “Miracle Man” Jacobs (37-3, 30 KO’s). If those plans come to fruition, Jacobs will get a shot at WBO light heavyweight champion Joe Smith Jr (27-3, 21 KO’s); a multimillion dollar contract for the latter to defend his belt! However, it must be questioned if this is a good or advisable move for the Miracle Man?
After campaigning within the middleweight division for the majority of his career, Jacobs recently made the move to super middleweight following his unimpressive loss to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. In his first contest, he stopped career underachiever and boxing outcast Julio Chavez Jr. In that prizefight, Jacobs performed well but this was in large part due to how pathetically Chavez Jr operated. In fact, the bout came to a close when the shameless fighter quit on his stool after the fifth round.
His next outing came against “King” Gabe Rosado in a would-be bad blood grudge match. Despite a very vitriolic build-up, the match itself was almost criminally boring. If forced to watch Jacobs vs Rosado, some might consider it a form of cruel and unusual punishment! Following the twelve rounds of aggressive monotony, Jacobs did get his hand raised by claiming a split decision. To be honest one would have to go back to Jacobs’ 2015 one round obliteration of Peter Quillin to view his last sensational victory. Since then he has either lost or looked rather drab in victory.
IS THIS THE RIGHT MOVE?
Given his underwhelming performances of late, one is forced to wonder if another jump in weight is what the doctor ordered. The biggest knock against Smith is that he is far from the most skilled fighters currently trading leather at light heavyweight. The consummate blue-collar fighter still maintains his construction job to this day. There certainly is more than a grain of truth to his lack of overall skills.
Yet, there is no denying that he is one of the hardest punching fighters in the division. Furthermore, while he may be no Mayweather in terms of technical ability, Smith is very good at using what he does have. He is comfortable in his seek-and-destroy style, works well behind a pawing range finding jab, puts in underrated body-work and tosses around a crushing right hand. Therefore, one must question “is this the type of fighter that Jacobs wants to make his 175lbs debut against?”
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From the outside looking in, this is not the most advisable move for the Miracle Man.
There is good chance that this potential bout never materializes though. It’s no secret that Top Rank was trying to put Smith in the ring against IBF and WBC light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (16-0, 16 KO’s). Not only is that a unification, the wrecking machine that is Beterbiev has looked much better than Jacobs as of late. Therefore not only would there be more belts at stake, there’d be more glory in the victory if Smith was successful. Only time will tell how this plays out yet regardless of the outcome 3kingsboxing will be there to report the news!
By: Bakari Simpson
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