By Dan Ambrose: IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler announced on Tuesday that there is no rematch clause for his fight against WBA ‘regular’ champion Daniel Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs) on March 18 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The fight will be televised on HBO PPV.
A lot of boxing fans are really up for the Golovkin-Jacobs fight, as it’s the best match-up at 160 in quite some time. Saul Canelo Alvarez fought Miguel Cotto at middleweight in 2015, but that was a catchweight fight held at 155lbs.
It wasn’t a great match-up due to the catchweight, and because of the big size advantage Canelo had over the 5’7” Cotto. Golovkin vs. Jacobs is a good fight on paper, and it’s not a mismatch in size or age like the Canelo-Cotto fight was.
Without a rematch clause, it puts Golovkin in the situation where if he loses the fight, Jacobs can move on without having to face him again. He can take Golovkin’s four titles and go in another direction. However, there’s really nowhere for Jacobs to go in the 160lb division in terms of money fights. The only guys that Jacobs can face for big paydays are Golovkin and Saul Canelo Alvarez.
You can probably forget about Canelo agreeing to face Jacobs, especially if he looks good in beating Golovkin. Canelo or his promoters at Golden Boy won’t likely agree to face Jacobs. They’ve got to many easy options for paydays without risk like Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Miguel Cotto, and Kanat Islam.
“There’s no rematch clause for this fight. It’s all or nothing,” said Loeffler at today’s Golovkin-Jacobs press conference at Madison Square Garden “This is for all the marbles.”
Even if Jacobs were to walk away without choosing to give Golovkin a rematch, it won’t be hard for Golovkin to get a title shot against Jacobs or WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders.
Both of those fights would soon be available to him. Golovkin could also move up to 168 to take on the champions in that weight class. There are some good fights for Triple G at super middleweight against the winner of the James DeGale vs. Badou Jack, George Groves vs. Fedor Chudinov, and Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez.
”Very important for us to see who’s No. 1 in middleweight division, who’s the best,” said Golovkin at today’s press conference at Madison Square Garden.
Jacobs took the challenge to fight Golovkin, and you’ve got to respect that. Some boxing fans will point out that Jacobs was forced to fight GGG after the WBA ordered the two to face each other, but Jacobs could have vacated the belt if he wanted to avoid the fight. He could also have let the fight go to a purse bid. If Jacobs’ manager Al Haymon won the purse bid, which would likely have happened, then he could have put the fight on Showtime an staged it at the Barclays Center in Jacobs’ hometown of Brooklyn, New York. Golovkin probably would have had to vacate his WBA title if it had gone to a purse bid and if he had lost it. He’s under contract with HBO, and it’s unlikely that they would have let him fight on Showtime.
“I have to prove to the world that I am the best,” said Jacobs. “I’m going to shock the world. There’s going to be a new middleweight champion of the world. He’s one of the best middleweights. We have all the attributes to make this camp successful. Before the WBA ordered this fight, I called Triple G out after the Sergio Mora fight. My fists are going to do the talking inside the ring. Team Jacobs has an amazing plan. This is going to be an amazing fight on March 18th,” said Jacobs.
It would be really interesting to know what the plan is for Jacobs to win the fight. Jacobs has never really shocked variation in his fighting styles. He always fights the same way. Jacobs tends to slug and load up on his power shots. He’ll fight timid at times, and stay on the outside, but he doesn’t show different things in his fights.
Jacobs doesn’t try move a lot, and he’s never used excessive clinching/wrestling like we see wither fighters. If Jacobs’ great game plan involves tying up Golovkin all night long, I don’t think it’s going to work to his benefit. Jacobs shouldn’t overthink his preparation for the Golovkin fight. By coming up with the “amazing plan” for the Golovkin fight, Jacobs could get away with what he does best and that’s to slug with his opponents.
If Jacobs’ plan is to clinch frequently or to run from Golovkin, he’ll be giving up his only shot of winning the fight. Jacobs has to go after Golovkin and hope that he can knock him out before he does a number on him. When you’re facing a knockout artist like Golovkin, you’ve got to try and get to him before he gets to you. Jacobs has said a lot in the past that Golovkin is easy to hit because he doesn’t move his head. This is Jacobs’ chance to prove that by going for a knockout.