Danny Jacobs can now call shots as champ, aiming for Canelo first

Mark Lelinwalla

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Danny Jacobs can now call shots as champ, aiming for Canelo first image

Danny Jacobs sat back in a chair, his newly-won red and gold IBF middleweight title resting on his lap, confidence etched on his face.

In a deep middleweight division, “The Miracle Man” is arguably the best of them all, furthering his case with each bout. And now that he’s a world champion again, Jacobs also knows he gets to call the shots from the driver’s seat ... or at least as much as boxing’s power brokers allow him to.

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“Two-time champion, it feels great,” Jacobs told reporters during his post-fight press conference, after getting a hard-fought split-decision victory over Sergiy Derevyanchenko at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. “And I think I’m in the best possible position in my career right now, so I’m looking forward to the near future.”

He added: “I’m just grateful that I’m world champion again and to be in the position that I’ve always claimed, which is one of the best middleweights — if not, the best middleweight in the world. Now, I got the reward, so hopefully we could make these big fights in the future.”

Jacobs is also a free agent broadcast-wise, as his time fighting for HBO Boxing came to a close Saturday night. It is widely expected that Jacobs signs with DAZN, although he hasn’t announced anything just yet. But that “near future” that he talks about could have the 31-year-old’s name in bright lights on the Las Vegas Strip for a big-money fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in 2019.

Or if that blockbuster doesn’t come to fruition immediately, Jacobs could explore a rematch with Gennady Golovkin to exact revenge for his March 2017 loss — a bout that many fight fans believe Jacobs did enough to win.

Perhaps Jacobs will elect to shut Jermall Charlo up. The two have exchanged words on Twitter and had a heated confrontation in person.

“The Miracle Man” could even fight his childhood friend, Demetrius Andrade, though neither pparty seems eager to take that on right now.

Options — they’re a beautiful thing. And Jacobs has more than earned the right to choose his own path, though aiming for Canelo takes precedence over all.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Jacobs told HBO’s Max Kellerman in the ring after his victory over Derevyanchenko and before echoing similar sentiments during his post-fight press conference. “That’s the fight fans want.”

Added his promoter Eddie Hearn: “I would love him to get the Canelo fight. It’s a fight that we nearly got in May and like he said in the ring, he’s a champion now. He gets to call the shots. If he wants a [title] defense, he gets a defense. But at this stage of his career, I think a Canelo fight is the fight.”

And Jacobs and his camp seem hell-bent on making it happen by any means necessary.

“We might have to chase him,” Jacobs’s trainer Andre Rozeier said of circling an in-ring date with Alvarez. “But Danny will chase him and get him. If it’s at 168 [pounds], we’ll get him there. If it’s at 160 [pounds], we’ll get him there. No matter where we have to find him, we’ll get him.”

Alvarez is moving up to 168 pounds to face WBA super middleweight champion Rocky Fielding on Dec. 15, so logistically an Alvarez-Jacobs fight during the spring makes sense.

“I just think Canelo is going for history and trying to be a three-division champion, so best of luck to him,” Jacobs said, “and then come back on down to the middleweight division and let’s get this thing on.”

Financially, an Alvarez-Jacobs bout taking place during Cinco de Mayo weekend is a dream. But if Alvarez and his Golden Boy Promotions team see things differently and opt to go another route, Jacobs could attempt to address unfinished business in the form of a rematch with “GGG.”

“I would give him the rematch because I’m champ now,” Jacobs explained. “There’s more of a reward than risk, whereas before he didn’t give me the rematch. I wouldn’t give me a rematch, too, if I was Golovkin, to be honest with you. Now, there’s almost nowhere for him to go.”

 

 

If a fight with Alvarez or Golovkin doesn’t pan out for whatever reason, Jacobs might decide on scrapping with Jermall Charlo.

Hearn joked that such a fight would be a "90-10 split" in Jacobs’s favor, but the trash talk on social media and face-to-face confontation Jacobs and Charlo had could make this undeniable at some point.

“Hey, listen, if that’s something that the fans want … because I’ve always been vocal about fighting Jermall,” Jacobs said. “This feud that we’re having is being built.”

That said, Jacobs extended the caveat that Charlo must look good against Willie Monroe Jr. on Dec. 22 first for him to legitimately consider.

 

 

The one fight out there that Jacobs isn’t pushing for? A shot against friend Demetrius Andrade, who just won the WBO world middleweight title last week. Jacobs even called on Andrade to help him prepare for Derevyanchenko, with “The Miracle Man” commenting that, “he was giving me little tricks on how to work the southpaw jab and keep my distance.”

Jacobs effectively applied both strategies against Derevyanchenko on Saturday night, weathering the Ukranian’s onslaughts and buying enough real estate to land sharp punches of his own.

Jacobs said he and Andrade have an "understanding" that they’d only fight for “big bucks” and a title “unification,” but it’s something neither really wants to do as of now.

“It’s not like a Peter Quillin or Sergiy Derevyanchenko — we’re just associates,” Jacobs said. “I’ve known ‘Boo Boo’ since I was 15-, 16-years-old.”

 

 

Jacobs (35-2, 29 KOs) in the driver’s seat has reached the point in the road, where he could look at his dashboard display and choose his own path, with each route carrying its own lure of pay dirt.

“I’m in good hands right now,” a humbled, but assured Jacobs said. “I’m in the best position of my career. I'm just going to let this dwell and you guys are going to see what's going to happen in the near future of my career."

Can't wait, champ.

Mark Lelinwalla

Mark Lelinwalla Photo

Mark Lelinwalla is a contributing writer and editor for DAZN News. He has written for the likes of the New York Daily News, Men's Health, The Associated Press, Sports Illustrated, Complex, XXL and Vibe Magazine.