DANNY JACOBS is called the “Miracle Man” for a reason. He survived cancer, a period in his life when it didn’t seem like he would ever box again, yet somehow managed to not only return to the sport but become a world champion. He now gets to unify the IBF, WBA and WBC middleweight titles, if he manages to beat Canelo Alvarez on Saturday (May 4) at the T Mobile Arena.
That of course is a big if. Canelo is the biggest name in the sport, as well as being the most highly paid boxer in the world today. Alvarez is one of the most able boxers in the world and Jacobs is having to go into his stronghold in Las Vegas, where the Mexican is hugely popular with the crowd and sometimes with the judges too. Jacobs is capable himself, he proved that when he fought Gennady Golovkin in 2017. But he will be up against it when he takes on Alvarez on Saturday. But as he said before, “I’m not new to miracles. I’ve done it once, I can do it again.”
He does have some advantages. He is taller than Canelo and looked the larger man when the two took to the scales for the weigh in at the T Mobile Arena on Friday. Jacobs weighed 160lbs, exactly on the middleweight limit.
The Mexican will still be strong at the weight. His last fight was up at super-middleweight in December, where he destroyed Rocky Fielding in impressive fashion. Today he made weight back in his natural division seemingly with little trouble, hitting 159 1/2lbs on the scales.
Hostility nearly boiled over between them though. The two fighters had to be pulled apart once their foreheads dangerously rubbed together as they faced off for the last time before they fight. “I never backed down a challenge in life,” Jacobs roared afterwards.
But Canelo declared, “That was fear right there, what he did.”
“I don’t care if he’s bigger, stronger, it’s never bothered me. I have the capability. I have the experience to overcome that and more,” Alvarez said earlier. “I’m a fighter that’s fought all the styles. What he brings on Saturday night is going to bring the reaction out of me to counter whatever he brings.
“I’m ready, I’m ready to continue writing history like I always have.”
