NEW YORK – Daniel Jacobs will be ringside at Madison Square Garden to watch Canelo Alvarez, who he hopes will be his next opponent, take on Rocky Fielding in the main event of the Mexican star’s first bout of a massive five-year $365 million deal with DAZN.

Jacobs (35-2, 29 knockouts) is a fighter without a broadcast home since HBO closed up shop in the boxing space last week.

The IBF middleweight titleholder made it clear earlier this week that he believes he is next in line for Alvarez, The Ring/WBC/WBA middleweight champ, because he has a slice of the middleweight pie and and Team Canelo has been vocal about returning to the 160-pound division after following the Fielding bout.

Golden Boy Promotions has reserved T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for Alvarez as on Cinco de Mayo weekend in 2019, but after Oscar De La Hoya went on record saying he does not believe Jacobs will be the opponent, it was widely believed that David Lemieux, who was scheduled to fight Tureano Johnson on the Canelo-Rocky undercard, would get the nod on May 4. Those speculated plans took a big hit on Friday when it was announced that Lemieux was scratched from the card due to suffering from dehydration while trying to make the 160-pound weight limit. Lemieux strained his body so much that he was taken to a hospital early on Friday due to concerns.

“It’s an unfortunate situation,” Jacobs told RingTV on Friday during a late afternoon media roundtable. “As fighters, we have to do what is necessary to make the fight and it can be dangerous sometimes. I wish David Lemieux nothing but the best, but if I can take advantage of a bad situation, well this is boxing. You have to get in where you can fit in.”

Jacobs has won three consecutive fights since dropping a close decision to Gennady Golovkin in March 2017 at Madison Square Garden. After that bout, Jacobs formed an alliance with Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing and signed a three-bout deal to fight on HBO. Now Jacobs is a promotional and broadcast free agent, although he still plans to work with Hearn.

“I am very happy where I am at the moment because I know I have the best team behind me,” Jacobs added. “If it’s not the Canelo fight, I know they will line up another one for me. I have to trust them to do their job like I did my job winning the title.”

Hearn agreed that Jacobs is deserving of fighting Alvarez next and wants to see him fight on DAZN alongside Alvarez and WBO middleweight beltholder Demetrius Andrade.

“My job along with Danny’s manager Keith Connolly is to get him the best deal,” Hearn said. “Now, I would like it to be against Canelo on DAZN, but if it happens to be fighting (Jermall) Charlo and it happens to be on Fox, so be it. We were with Danny before DAZN and will do whatever is best for him.”

Jacobs expects a lot more clarity in the next two weeks as Alvarez is in action tomorrow and Jermall Charlo tales on Willie Monroe Jr. next Saturday. It is also expected that Andrade’s next bout, to be held on January 18, will be announced sometime this weekend.

“I feel that I am most deserving to fight Canelo and, in my heart, I know I will beat him,” Jacobs said. “” want to hear what Oscar and Canelo say tomorrow after the fight and who they call out. I took the hard road to get here. I already proved myself by fighting undefeated champions.”

Jacobs knows things in boxing can change lightning-quick, as the Lemieux bout being cancelled illustrates.

“You hear one thing and get excited and then the next day you hear something else,” Jacobs said. “What can I say? This is boxing. All I can do is put trust in my team that when one fight falls out, they have a plan to get the next big one.

“I know I won’t be the A-side against a guy like Canelo. I know he’s a big draw and I am okay with that as long as I’m treated as a champion too. The Canelo fight would just be the perfect chapter in the movie I have been playing in my mind about how my life and career is supposed to go.”

Photo by Tom Hogan – Hoganphotos/K2 Promotions

Jacobs said he has a list of fights he wants before he can retire and atop that list is a rematch with Golovkin and a grudge match against Charlo.

“I believe I beat Golovkin and a lot of fans think so too,” Jacobs said. “And a fight with Jermall Charlo would be as big or even bigger. The Charlo fight has been building for a while and the promotion would be huge. It would be a barnburner.”

Jacobs believes he has learned how to win close fights against top opposition following the loss to Golovkin.

“I am learning what the judges are looking for,” Jacobs admits. “They feed off the reaction of the crowd. Next time I will come forward more and I will push the fight back. I will beat Canelo or Golovkin convincingly and will dominate.”

Jacobs’ manager Connolly who has been with the Brooklyn-born fighter since the beginning has seen maturation in Jacobs as the opposition has improved.

“Daniel has grown as a fighter with each fight,” Connolly said. “He has learned a ton from the Golovkin fight and his confidence has grown with each fight.”