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Danny Jacobs: ‘One punch could change everything’

Photo / @premierboxing
Fighters Network
11
Jan

Middleweight contender Danny Jacobs is the sort of person you want repping your sport, if we’re talking about living in a sane world, where traits like decency, dignity, class and such are most prized traits in a being.

Ah, but maybe you recognize this world sometimes doesn’t enough treasure those characteristics, of a kind and humble sort, and instead rewards blowhards, drama kings and ruthless backstabbers who seek loopholes and persons to exploit with ravenous glee.

Jacobs (32-1 with 29 knockouts; turned pro in 2007; turns 30 on Feb. 3) will get a chance to tell his story and show his worth, as a prizefighter and public figure, when he takes on the tallest challenge of his ring career on March 18. On that evening, he will be in, for the first time as a pro, with a person whom, on paper, is a bit badder, with fists a bit harder, IBF/WBA/WBC middleweight titleholder Gennady Golovkin.

I say “tallest challenge” but I qualified that phrase with the words “of his ring career.”



Because Jacobs had cancer invade his body a few years back – and not a mild case, which gave him a quick scare and allowed him to move on. No, this beast wrapped itself around his spine and left him unable to move and pretty damn sure he’d die.

He beat that bastard down and that’s why, when he’s informed by media that he’s an 8-to-1 underdog, as he was during a Tuesday press session at Madison Square Garden in New York City, where the “GGG”-Jacobs tiff will unfold, he’s not prone to grumble or argue. Golovkin, he allows, is a badass but Jacobs knows something about tangling with and facing down such a creature. Cancer is a creature, isn’t it, a ruthless invader who is as sneaky and amoral as any entity known to man?

We saw a Danny Jacobs, who seems to be relishing this opportunity, not feigning a grin, as he walks to the gallows. He told us he’s headed to California to do camp, away from pesky reporters like me. “I’m not going to be the one who wastes as much energy doing this stuff, even though I love you guys,” he said, to a chuckling room, “and I respect what you do and appreciate what you do for the sport but, at the same time, I want to focus solely on the task at hand and I don’t want any distractions.”

Check out the following videos and decide for yourself on Jacobs’ demeanor and mood. And feel free to leave a comment down below about this tango and leave your prediction on what, and maybe whom, will go down March 18 in NYC and on HBO Pay-Per-View.

 

 

 

Well, nuts to you, Daniel Jacobs. Michael Woods told us, at RingTV.com, that he’s headed to Paulie Gee’s in Greenpoint for a slice, then he’s going home to grab a nap, away from pesky fighters like you, pal. (Just kidding. Please don’t hit us.)

 

 

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