JACOBS ESCAPES WITH A SPLIT DECISION WIN OVER ROSADO

Former two-time middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs almost got the upset axe when he was brought into deep waters by Gabriel Rosado but escaped with a split decision victory at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, FL Friday night (Saturday in Manila) headlining a Matchroom Boxing event streamed live on DAZN. Judges Fernando Barbosa and Michael Tate gave the fight to Jacobs with identical scores of 115-113 while Fred Fluty had it 115-113 for Rosado.

Jacobs, who promised pre-fight to punish Rosado, appeared flat and uninspired and ended up with a lackluster performance. Jacobs took the early rounds but Rosado came out strong in the championship rounds and repeatedly connected at Jacobs with his rights. Rosado's hall of fame trainer Freddie Roach egged Rosado finish strong in those rounds which they believed would win them the fight.

Rosado (L) jabs at Jacobs.

"I feel I won the fight," Rosado said afterwards. "I surprised him. I outboxed him. I fought him off guard. I had him missed his shots."

“I didn’t think I did the best performance. I could’ve did a little bit better,” Jacobs said after the fight.

Jacobs, who is aiming a rematch with Gennadiy Golovkin who was in attendance, improved to 37 wins with three defeats while Rosado succumed to his 13th defeat and dropped to 25-13-1, 14KOs.

Freddie Roach (2nd from left) at the corner of Rosado. At right is Roach's Filipino assistant Marvin Somodio.

Undercard results:

Daniyar Yeleussinov (10-0-0, 6KOs) of Kazakhstan won by TKO in the 2nd round over former unified world champion Julius Indongo (23-3-0, 12KOs) of Namibia in their 10-round scheduled welterweight bout. Yeleussinov dropped Indongo twice, once in the first and once in the second round.

Nikita Ababiy (10-0-0, 6KOs) of Brookly, New York decisioned Brandon Maddox (7-4-1, 5KOs) of Detroit, Michigan in their 6-round middleweight bout. Judges scores: Fred Fluty 55-59, Alex Levin 55-59 and James Ged O'Connor 55-59 all in favor of Ababiy.

In a battle of two undefeated heavyweights, Mahammadrasul Majidov (3-0-0, 3KOs) of Baku, Azerbaijan stopped Sahret Delgado (8-1-0, 7KOs) of Puerto Rico in round three of eight-round scheduled heavyweight bout. Majidov laded a huge right at 47 seconds of the third round to end the fight.

Emmanuel Tagoe (32-1-0, 15KOs) of Accra, Ghana won by majority decision over Mason Menard (36-5-0, 25KOs) of Louisiana in their 10-round lightweight bout.