Gennady Golovkin is struggling to lure Canelo Alvarez into the ring, but it appears that the unified middleweight champion has found his next opponent: secondary WBA titlist Daniel Jacobs. Given that Golovkin-Canelo is on ice for now, GGG-Jacobs is a fairly intriguing stopgap bout.
Until Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez fight each other, their every move will be scrutinized and assessed through the lens of the only fight boxing fans want to see. This is understandable, especially given that Golovkin-Canelo is, unequivocally, the most compelling and lucrative bout that can be made between active fighters.
In his expected, dominant stoppage of brave former titlist Liam Smith, Canelo Alvarez injured his hand and will be sidelined for the rest of 2016. This is of genuine concern for two reasons: Canelo (48-1-1, 34 KOs) was slated to fight an opponent to be determined on December 10 on HBO, and the necessary layoff could be used as yet another smokescreen to delay the proposed September 2017 timing of the Gennady Golovkin fight.
While the second point is purely hypothetical, it is worth mentioning given Canelo Alvarez’s contradictory stances towards Gennady Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs), which has included calling GGG into the ring after Canelo knocked out Amir Khan and saying all the right things about an eventual fight — only for the bout to get delayed as Canelo retreated back to 154 pounds for an unnecessary, resume-padding sojourn.
Luckily for HBO, and for boxing fans, Gennady Golovkin, who was always intent on fighting again this year, is ready to swoop in and claim Canelo’s December 10 fight date. Here are some details courtesy of ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael:
The fight being targeted for Golovkin is his mandatory defense against secondary titleholder Daniel Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs), who retained his belt for the fourth time by knocking out Sergio Mora in the seventh round of their rematch on Sept. 9. The proposed site for GGG-Jacobs is the now-available Madison Square Garden, which makes sense given that Golovkin sold out the building for his October 2015 title unification fight against David Lemieux and Jacobs is a popular draw from Brooklyn.
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Indeed, there are reasons to groan about any match-up that isn’t Gennady Golovkin-Canelo Alvarez. Canelo hardly needs to grow into a full-fledged middleweight, and delaying the fight only runs the risk of the bout losing some of its luster. Also, Daniel Jacobs, despite his obvious talent, has a somewhat thin resume and was knocked out in his only defeat.
But there are legitimate reasons to like Golovkin-Jacobs. It will be a massive event in New York City; Jacobs brings the threat of fight-altering power and tremendous athleticism to the table; it will allow GGG to make a statement right before the end of the year, which could give him some valuable momentum heading into 2017 — the year where his plans to officially clean out the middleweight division should come to fruition.
It’s also a pragmatic choice on the part of Gennady Golovkin. Daniel Jacobs is one of his mandatory challengers, and Golovkin has always made his intentions to collect all the belts at 160 clear. The Jacobs fight, as a result, had to happen eventually, and making it now permits GGG to focus on two clear goals for next year: chasing down the WBO title and securing that defining fight against Canelo.
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