By Geno McGahee
This Saturday, one of the best fights of the year takes place on DAZN, bringing the, arguably, best pound for pound fighter in the world, Canelo Alvarez, 51-1-2, 35 KO’s, brings his WBC and WBA middleweight titles against Danny Jacobs, 35-2, 29 KO’s, the IBF champion. This may be the biggest challenge in the career of Alvarez and it will be his biggest test since signing his huge deal with DAZN.
Canelo fought mostly in the welterweight division before making his move up and he’s been very successful with a couple of bumps along the way. His only loss came in 2013 against Floyd Mayweather, JR., but it was a fight that was seen by the judges as a close one with “Money” walking away with only a majority decision. There is a lot of talk of Alvarez getting favors from the judges and the draw on one of the cards in the Floyd fight, that he clearly lost, is some evidence that is pointed to. This must be a concern for the Jacobs camp considering his lack of name value going against the money machine of the sport.
Good or bad decision in the Floyd fight, Canelo has earned his placement at the top of the sport with wins over some of the best in the game. Alvarez defeated Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Erislandy Lara, Amir Khan and Julio Cesar Chavez, JR., which all led to his biggest challenge and victory to date, but it would also lead to some more controversy with the judges. In 2016, Alvarez would move up in weight to take on the most feared man in boxing, “GGG” Gennady Golovkin. In the opinion of most, GGG won the fight and won it quite clearly, but it would end in a split decision draw with one judge having the absurd score of 118-110 for Canelo.
The controversy from the first fight would lead to a rematch and it would be a different fight. Canelo was stronger and stood his ground a lot more than he did in the first fight. GGG seemed off his game and didn’t seem like the destroyer that we knew him to be. It appeared that GGG was intimidated and fought very conservatively, but evenly. In the end, Alvarez would take a contested majority decision win. The fight could have gone either way and it helped Canelo move on and remain the biggest name in the game.
After a quick stop at super middleweight where Canelo took the WBA title from a hopeless Rocky Fielding, he moved back down to take on a real challenge in Jacobs and this is a fight that will be very interesting and competitive.
Jacobs made a huge statement in his fight with Peter Quillen, an undefeated power-punching middleweight. In an even fight, Jacobs came out of the corner on a mission and destroyed his toughest opponent to that date, stopping him in less than 90 seconds. It was a call out to the middleweight division and it opened up an opportunity to fight GGG in a showdown that showed even more so that Jacobs was an elite fighter.
In March of 2017, Jacobs would step up and take on GGG, surviving a knockdown to rally late and fight an even fight that gave GGG some scares. Had it not been for the knockdown, the fight would have been a draw. Jacobs walked away with a loss, but there was a bright future ahead and plenty of new opportunities. After three rebound victories, Jacobs now steps into the ring with Canelo this Saturday in a fight that will be the biggest opportunity his career has presented to him.
When the bell rings, Canelo will try to control the range and I think we will see Jacobs saving his aggression for later in the fight. It should be a very tactical fight early with both understanding the punching power of their opponents. It will be imperative for Jacobs to be more active and make statements each and every round. Even though he can knock out Alvarez if he lands, he’s gone the distance in his last four fights and Canelo isn’t easy to hurt. On the other hand, Jacobs has been knocked out and has been on the floor a few times. Remarkably, the feather-fisted Sergio Mora put Jacobs down in their first fight. This is what Canelo has been looking at and what he wants to find. The bad news for Jacobs is that Alvarez has carried his punching power with him into the heavier ranks and he will be trying to get Jacobs out of there.
The bad news for Canelo is that Jacobs is a survivor and has come back from being hurt to fight harder as he did with GGG. Jacobs is also a natural middleweight with a lot of confidence and great timing. He will box early and wait for Canelo to slow down a smidge before he starts coming forward and pushing him back. It will be interesting what happens when and if Jacobs lands flush on his chin. This may be a fight that will be decided by who lands their best shot first.
There is no question that Canelo is the favorite in this fight and rightfully so. If history dictates, close decisions will lean his way. Jacobs has an uphill climb to take the win on the cards, so the focus must be a knockout victory. Considering that Canelo has never been really hurt in a fight and has stood up to GGG without much trouble. He rolls with punches and has a very good chin. Jacobs might have the dynamite in his fists to get the job done, but it won’t be an easy task.
The most likely result of this fight will be a Canelo decision win that will be close and probably closer than the judges have it, but he will have to walk through a minefield to get there. Jacobs is a big fighter with big punches that he throws in bunches. He has a tremendous right hand and that is the punch that Canelo gets hit with the most. This will be an incredibly exciting fight for as long as it goes and will probably have a little bit of everything with Alvarez continuing his path to a third fight with GGG, who recently signed with DAZN, making that fight really easy to make.
Saturday is going to be a tremendous showdown of two of the best fighters in boxing where we could see an upset and it could happen by knockout, or we could see another clinic by Canelo. DAZN is giving the fans the best fight they’ve put together so far.
