There was a lot of boxing taking place this weekend, and perhaps it was Daniel Jacobs who had the most eyes on him. Fighting in what will serve as one of the last HBO Boxing’s telecasts, Jacobs was able to defeat tough contender Sergiy Derevyanchenko via split-decision to once again become champion, as he claims the IBF middleweight title.
Jacobs (35-2, 29 KO) was able to score a victory by scores of 115-112, 115-112, and 113-114, which went in the favor of Derevyanchenko, who sees his record drop to 12-1 (10 KO’s).
Jacobs was able to drop Derevyanchenko in the first but it was a competitive matchup after that. All one has to do is look at boxing forums online to see how much debate fans have over who deserved to win the match after 12 rounds.
Jacobs showed his usual strong qualities, including movement, defense, working the body, and leading through his boxing generalship. After winning a title for a second time, Jacobs let it be known that he does indeed want to go to war with Canelo Alvarez, the WBA and WBC middleweight champion of the world.
“We absolutely want Canelo,” Jacobs said afterwards. “It’s a fight that the fans want. This would be a great fight for the fans, and now that I have the strap, there’s gonna be more in the pudding for everybody. Let’s make this fight happen.”
Jacobs also expressed interest in a possible rematch with former champion Gennady Golovkin, who he lost to via a very close decision in March of last year. But it’s Canelo who now appears to be the main prize for the Brooklyn fighter.
Jacobs landed 181 of 578 of his punches for a 31% mark, including 137 out of 306 power shots for 45%. Derevyanchenko threw more punches overall , connecting on 160 of 658 (24%) total punches, and 137 of 482 (28%) for his power shots.
But how would a Jacobs vs. Alvarez fight go down? First things first, we have Canelo moving up in weight for his December 15th fight vs. WBA super middleweight champion Rocky Fielding, who he will face inside of Madison Square Garden in a fight that will be televised by the DAZN streaming app.
Canelo recently signed an 11-year, $365 million deal with DAZN, and will be the target of several fighters moving forward. Jacobs’ promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, has an exclusive output deal with DAZN, so Jacobs vs. Canelo shouldn’t be hard to make. Matter of fact, Hearn even said we would see the fight in May of next year if Jacobs would win the IBF title.
Canelo vs. Jacobs is a great matchup between two guys who can both box and punch. But Canelo is riding such a high after the Golovkin victory, that perhaps the momentum will be on his side. But Jacobs is a very live fighter in that matchup.
