?Triple G? has been portrayed as an indomitable force, a fistic anomaly, a throwback to boxing?s golden age?
Saturday night at New York?s Madison Square Garden, WBC/WBA/IBF middleweight champion Gennady ?Triple G? Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs), the knockout artist from Karaganda, Kazakhstan, kept his unbeaten streak alive by winning a controversial unanimous decision over mandatory challenger Daniel Jacobs (32-2, 29 KOs), the hard-hitting ?Miracle Man? from Brooklyn, New York.
The final scores after 12 rounds were 115-112 twice (Don Trella and Steve Weisfeld) and 114-113 (Max DeLuca).
The sellout crowd of 19,939 at the Garden greeted Golovkin with cheers when he entered the ring, but booed the decision was it was announced, believing that Jacobs had pulled off the upset.
Despite being the heavy favorite, despite dropping Jacobs with a two right hands in round four, Golovkin was listless for much of the fight and failed to keep his knockout streak alive.
Jacobs fought a smart, tactical fight where he often gave as good as he got, especially in the second half of the bout. He outweighed Golovkin on fight night. He also often fought out of the southpaw stance for much of the contest, which created problems the reigning and defending champion had difficulty solving.
At the end of 12 ?Triple G? had done enough to win the fight on the three judges? scorecards, but there were many watching the fight at the Garden and at home who felt then, and feel now, that the challenger dominated enough rounds to win it, and that Golovkin often looked baffled enough that the titles deserved to change hands.
After the fight Golovkin was as gracious as usual.
?I respect Daniel Jacobs, and he did a very good job and clean job,? he said. ?Daniel Jacobs is my favorite fighter?quality, very good fighter after I knocked him down. I respect his team.?
Jacobs appreciated the compliment, but he would have appreciated the victory even more.
?I think I won the fight, and I think the fans support me,? he said. ?I think I won by two rounds at least. They want the big fight (against Canelo Alvarez), and Daniel Jacobs got X?d out. I won the fight, and I won the decision, and all I can do is be gracious in the decision.?
The knockdown in the fourth made all the difference.
?After the knockdown, I told him he?d have to kill me,? Jacobs said. ?When I got up, I thought, ?This is all he has?? There were many times during the fight I went toe-to-toe because I knew I could. I got back up, and I thought I won the fight.?
And Jacobs is not alone.
Boxing is a business first, a sport second, and no one should forget it. According to CompuBox, Golovkin won the bout based on the raw numbers, landing 231 of 615 total punches thrown (38%) to 175 of 541 (32%) for Jacobs. But a breakdown of those numbers is revealing. Jacobs threw and landed more power punches, 144 of 371 (38.8%) to 126 of 259 (48.6%), albeit at a lower percentage, while Golovkin landed 105 of 356 jabs (29.5%) to 31 of 170 (18.2%) for Jacobs.
No one watches Golovkin because of his jab, but a win is a win.
?Triple G? has been portrayed as an indomitable force, a fistic anomaly, a throwback to boxing?s golden age. He may be all that still, but even in victory, his imperfections were showing.
?I need the decision,? said Golovkin, looking at the bright side. ?I wasn?t thinking that I needed the 12th round to win the fight. This was my first test at 12 rounds. I needed a quality fight?not just the 12 rounds.?
When asked about Canelo, ?Triple G? said, ?Of course I want that fight. I am like an animal for that fight, but I will give Danny Jacobs a chance for a rematch,? even though there was no rematch clause in the original contract.
In the meantime we?re waiting for Canelo, which is not unlike waiting for Godot.
