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BIGGEST WINNER

Daniel Jacobs: Wow. That’s what I call taking full advantage of a significant opportunity. Jacobs turned what I thought was a 50-50 fight into a quick, spectacular assault, stopping Peter Quillin only 1 minute, 25 seconds into their scheduled 12-round middleweight bout in Brooklyn, the hometown of both fighters. The beginning of the end came 43 seconds after the opening bell, when Jacobs buckled Quillin’s knees with an overhand right. That was followed by a rapid-fire barrage of hard, accurate shots that overwhelmed the loser, who didn’t have the wherewithal to hold until he could recover. The final blow was a right to the temple that staggered Quillin and prompted referee Harvey Dock to stop it, saving him from more punishment. I understand why many believe the stoppage was premature; after all, Quillin never went down and was at least trying to throw punches until the end. I’m inclined to give Dock the benefit of the doubt, though. He looked Quillin directly in his eyes and didn’t see a fighter who could adequately defend himself. Plus, I believe strongly after watching it 10 times that Jacobs would’ve finished the job anyway. Quillin seemed to be badly hurt and the round was only half over. In the end, it was a great moment for Jacobs in his biggest fight. One of the most admired figures in the sport, a cancer survivor, is instantly in the mix with top middleweights Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez. And one could argue that Jacobs now has the most impressive victory among the three, as Quillin entered the fight undefeated and as the RING’s No. 3 middleweight. Yes, Jacobs had a very productive 85 seconds on very big stage.

RABBIT PUNCHES

Jacobs (31-1, 28 knockouts) seems destined to face the winner of the Dec. 19 Andy Lee-Billy Joe Saunders title fight, which should be interesting. After that? I like him as an opponent for either Golovkin or Alvarez, although the latter isn’t likely to happen because Premier Boxing Champions (Jacobs) and Golden Boy Promotions (Alvarez) don’t work together. Tom Loeffler, who promotes Triple-G, said he’s open to a fight against Jacobs. “That becomes very big if both fighters keep winning,” he said. I think Jacobs matches up better with Golovkin than Alvarez does because he’s naturally bigger and has a better amateur foundation, although the Mexican might have a better chin. ÔǪ I don’t think the knockout loss will be as damaging to Quillin’s career as one might assume. Sometimes even the best fighters get caught with a big shot, as Jacobs did in his knockout lose to Dmitry Pirog in 2010. It happens. And the controversial nature of the stoppage mitigates the loss to some degree. I think Quillin (32-1-1, 23 KOs) remains one of the best 160-pounders in the world. He’ll bounce back quickly. ÔǪ As always, it made me sick to hear the broadcasters refer to Jacobs-Quillin as a title fight. It wasn’t. Jacobs holds the bogus WBA “regular” title, which was invented so the sanctioning body could collect additional fees. Everyone knows that Golovkin is the actual WBA champ. The “regular” belt means about as much as the belt I bought on sale at Macy’s last week. In other words, it means nothing. Blow-by-blow man Mauro Ranallo ultimately did label the proliferation of belts “ridiculous.” Kudos to him. ÔǪ

Jesus Cuellar, also a “regular titleholder,” defeated Jonathan Oquendo (26-5, 16 KOs) by a convincing unanimous decision in a 12-round 126-pound fight on the Jacobs-Quillin card. Cuellar (28-1, 21 KOs) is a solid, rugged guy who might be able to give Leo Santa Cruz, Lee Selby and Abner Mares some trouble but I don’t think he can hang with the very best of the division, Gary Russell Jr., Vasyl Lomachenko and Nicholas Walters. I see nothing special about him. ÔǪ Chris Algieri (21-2, 8 KOs) won his first fight in almost a year and a half when he outpointed Erick Bone (16-3, 8 KOs) on the Jacobs-Quillin card. He had lost back-to-back fights to Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan. ÔǪ Former junior middleweight titleholder Yuri Foreman (33-2, 9 KOs) returned to the ring after a two-year layoff, outpointing Lenwood Dozier (9-10-1, 4 KOs) in an eight-round bout in Brooklyn. ÔǪ I watched the victories of heavyweights Kubrat Pulev and Joseph Parker on YouTube.com and had one thought: This is wrong. Neither opponent had any business in the ring with either one of these contenders. Pulev (22-1, 12 KOs) stopped Maurice Harris (26-21-3, 11 KOs) with a body shot in the first round in Germany. Harris is now 2-7-1 in his last 10 fights. Parker (17-0, 15 KOs) took out Daniel Martz (14-3-1, 11 KOs) with a single shot to the head in the opening round in New Zealand. Martz is a club fighter at best. At least neither loser was seriously hurt. Matchmakers can do better than this.