DANIEL JACOBS hopes to become the first man to stop Sergio Mora when he defends his WBA world middleweight title against him at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday [August 1].
The fight appears on the undercard of Danny Garcia’s clash with Paul Malignaggi.
Mora, a former light-middleweight world champion, has lost to Brian Vera (twice) and Vernon Forrest but is yet to be stopped and Jacobs wants to see if he can be the first to do so.
“The test with Sergio Mora is – whether that he can be stopped or whether or not I can go the distance with him, he’s never been stopped before, so it will be icing on the cake to be able to not only to defeat him but to stop him,” he said.
“He’s the most experienced guy I’ve faced thus far. I’m looking forward to testing my challenge against this slick, crafty veteran in Sergio Mora.”
With only nine of his 28 wins coming early, Mora does not hold considerable power while Jacobs currently has an 87% knockout ratio.
The champion acknowledges his assets but is also aware of Mora’s other abilities, such as his movement.
“There’s not a lot of fear as far as power is concerned but where he lacks that he makes up in his craftiness and his slickness and awkwardness and sometimes he does engage in the action as well,” he said.
“I feel like I have a lot more advantages than he does in the fight. But whatever my advantages are and whatever gets me going will be what I would stick to. So if it’s my speed, then I’ll stick to using my speed. If it’s my power, backing him down, showing him what a real middleweight feels like, then that’s what I would do.”
Mora is acutely aware of his underdog status and feels he may have to push himself to engage more with Jacobs.
“Defeating him is going to be tough with all the cards stacked against me and that’s something that I have grown used to and accustomed to,” he said.
“This is going to be a really exciting card because he’s in his hometown and defending the world title. I’m hungry for that world title and I know that I’m going to have to be extra sharp and do a lot more than just have a close victory in his hometown.
“So I’m going to have to press action and go out of my comfort zone and I think he’s going to have to go out of his comfort zone, which is going to make an interesting fight for everybody.”
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