If IBF middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs is going to pull off the upset against Canelo Alvarez, he must go for the knockout.
Saturday night in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena, Brooklyn native and IBF middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs (32-2, 29 KOS) has to earn by far the biggest win of his career when he takes on Canelo Alvarez (51-1-2, 35 KOs) in their unification fight.
This is the biggest fight so far in 2019 as both men will try to prove that they are the best middleweight in the world.
The 32-year-old Jacobs is a huge underdog against the 28-year-old Alvarez as he struggled in his last fight in October when he defeated Serhiy Derevianchenko by split decision to win the vacant IBF middleweight title.
Alvarez, on the other hand, is in peak form. After defeating then-undefeated unified middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin in their rematch by majority decision in September in what was the biggest win of his career, Alvarez followed that up by moving up in weight and knocked out Rocky Fielding in three rounds to win the WBA super middleweight title in December at Madison Square Garden.
Not only does Jacobs have to deal with facing a younger champion, but he also has to deal with the politics of boxing that always favors the bigger star.
Alvarez is the biggest star in boxing as evident by his five-year, 11-fight, $365-million deal with DAZN. Alvarez has benefitted in the past with being awarded the decision in competitive fights Austin Trout, Erislandy Lara, and in his second fight with Golovkin.
So Jacobs knows his best chance to pull off the upset is to knock Alvarez out. That will be a tall task as Alvarez has seldom ever been staggered in his 54 professional fights.
Who are you backing tonight to win? ?
RT: @Canelo // ❤: @DanielJacobsTKO pic.twitter.com/iQWOq7YnBl
— DAZN USA (@DAZN_USA) May 4, 2019
But Jacobs has defied the odds before; after all, he beat cancer, so he’ll be unfazed coming into this fight.
Jacobs has explosive power and can end a fight at any time with one punch. Just ask Peter Quillin who was knocked out by Jacobs in the first round back in December 2015 at the Barclays Center. So anything can happen if he lands a haymaker on Alvarez’s chin.
Jacobs is supremely confident that he will come out victorious on Saturday night.
“This is the opportunity of a lifetime for me and I’m mostly excited to get in there to show the world that I am the best middleweight of my generation. I finally have an opportunity to prove it, to go against Canelo Alvarez. You guys are going to see fireworks, masterful boxing, skills, dedication, persistence, and grit, most importantly.”
If Jacobs is able to pull off the upset not only will it shock the boxing world, but it will cement his legacy as one of the best boxers of his era. But to do that he will need to become the first fighter to ever knockout Alvarez.
Canelo versus Jacobs will be streamed live exclusively tonight on DAZN at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.
