Saturday night in Brooklyn, WBA middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs defends his title against former WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin?
Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, in a fight televised live on Showtime, WBA World middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs (30-1, 27 KOs), hailing from Brownsville, defends his title against former WBO World middleweight champion Peter Quillin (32-0-1, 23 KOs), fighting out of Brooklyn by way of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Twenty-eight-year-old Jacobs was a stellar amateur. He was national Golden Gloves champion. He was a four-time New York Golden Gloves champion. By the time he turned pro in 2007, his amateur record was 137-7.
Jacobs won the vacant WBA World title in August 2014 by stopping Jarrod Fletcher via fifth round TKO. He has twice defended his belt, against Caleb Truax in April and most recently this August, stopping Sergio Mora by second round TKO, after trading knockdowns in the first. Jacobs? only loss came in July 2010 when he was stopped by Dmitry Pirog via fifth round TKO.
Quillin, 32, is a 10-year ring veteran who is currently ranked #5 by the WBA. He last fought in September, knocking out Michael Zerafa in the fifth. ?Kid Chocolate? won the WBO championship in October 2012 after knocking down Hassan N?Dam N?Jikam six times on his way to the title. He defended three times, against Fernando Guerrero and Gabriel Rosado in 2013, and Lukas Konecny in 2014, before relinquishing the title when he could not make the weight for his fight against Andy Lee, which was ruled a draw after 12 rounds.
This is a pick ?em fight. Jacobs has the more refined skills. Quillin has power and might be the more dogged performer.
Jacobs and Quillin also have history. They sparred together a decade ago. They consider themselves friends.
?We?re friends,? said Quillin during a recent teleconference call. ?I know a lot about him and he knows a lot about me. Me and him always bump into each other in New York and there?s always love. So this is strictly part of the business that, you know, whether people love it or not you?re just going to have to accept it.?
Jacobs agrees.
?We?re really cool individuals,? he said. ?I respect him and I respect his family and there?s nothing but love at the end of the day. It?s no secret that I?ve wanted this fight for a long time. It?s no secret that Quillin has been on my radar and he?s been the guy that I feel like I need to get through to get to the next level. But we?re fighting for our legacy. We?re fighting for our pride and for our career.?
Not only are their legacy, pride and careers on the line. There?s something else at stake, however amorphous, a thing called Brooklyn bragging rights.
?Not only are we fighting for the bragging rights in Brooklyn,? said Jacobs at Gleason?s Gym on Wednesday, ?but we both want to be at the top of the middleweight division. All the top middleweights are fighting each other and we?re right in that realm.?
The consensus top middleweight is WBA Super champion Gennady Golovkin. Until further notice, he?s the man to beat (with Canelo Alvarez coming in a distant second).
But belief is a big part of Jacobs? game?as well it should be considering he?s been to hell and back. (He lost 19 months of his career between the years 2011-12 after being diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer.)
?I believe my speed is my greatest advantage,? he said. ?My skill, my ring generalship ? I could go on and on. Ultimately it?s about going in there and proving it. He?s gonna have to hit me to test my chin. This sport is about hitting and not getting hit. Anybody can be knocked down, but you have to land shots. Every time I?ve gotten knocked down, I?ve gotten up. If I get a guy hurt. I can get a guy out of there as well. We?re not in there to play. This is not a play business. We?re in there to hurt each other. My punching power is there. I have more knockouts than Quillin and I?m going to be at my best on Saturday.?
Peter Quillin feels much the same way.
?Hard work, smarts and faith,? he said. ?The only way that we get in there is we fight and we win. Other things are not in my hands. There is no fear with faith. I love what I do. All love does is drive out fear. So I?m walking into this fight with nothing but faith. So I have nothing to worry about.?
