After a number of stalls in negotiations, the middleweight title fight between Gennady Golovkin and Danny Jacobs was announced last week. Jacobs, thought by many to be the most dangerous opponent GGG has faced yet, is confident that he will expose flaws in the undefeated champion’s game.
The fight will take place on March 19 at Madison Square Garden. Speaking to BoxingTalk.com, Brooklyn-born Jacobs (32-1) says he is the perfect opponent to take advantage of Golovkin’s defensive flaws.
"I’m making sure I bring the best me to the table,” Jacobs said. “because I definitely see a lot of flaws in his game and I definitely see me capitalizing.”
"Obviously, there’s risks to that because of his power, but this is boxing and anything can happen. We have to play our cards right, we have to adjust when necessary and we have to execute the game plan.”
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While Golovkin has an unblemished record and is one of the most fearsome knockout artists in the sport today, Jacobs says that the Kazakh has issues with the fundamentals of defense and evasion.
"It’s the basics,” he said. “He doesn’t really have a great defense and my speed enables me to elude a lot of punches, my power allows me to hurt guys."
Predictably, Jacobs enters the contest as a heavy underdog. There is the sense, however, that there is no better fighter to test Golovkin’s true greatness (beyond Canelo Alvarez). Jacobs, however, is happy to be counted out ahead of the March contest. While other GGG opponents have crumbled under the pressure ahead of the fights, Jacobs is motivated by his underdog status.
"This is the biggest challenge of my career and I would want to go in there as the underdog, because you’re right, it does give you that extra motivation.”