Jacobs set for a cracker
PAGES OF FANTASTIC Thomas wows grown-ups START HERE DAN OUT TO DEFY KAZAKH KO KING
Interview by CHRIS McKENNA DANIEL JACOBS has defied the odds outside of the ring and tonight he is looking to do it inside the ropes too.
The American takes on Gennady Golovkin for the Kazakh KO star’s WBA, IBF and WBC middleweight titles.
The 30-year-old New Yorker has home advantage at Madison Square Garden and superior knockout power – with 29 of his 32 wins ending inside the distance.
Yet he is still a massive outsider against one of the best of his era.
Weak
But Jacobs has beaten the odds before. The American was a rising star despite a knockout defeat by Dmitry Pirog in his first bid to land a world title back in 2010.
But just over a year later he had a different fight on his hands.
Jacobs went on a trip to Iraq with US soldiers to put into perspective his first and only career defeat so far, but he started to feel weak and had to go home.
“I was scheduled to go to the hospital on the Monday but I went in on Friday and they said, ‘You wouldn’t have made it to Monday’,” said Jacobs.
He was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and a melon-sized tumour was paralysing his legs and slowing his heart.
Doctors operated immediately and radiation treatment followed.
“I went from a world-class athlete to not being able to do anything for myself,” he said.
“The doctors told me, ‘Even if you are able to walk again you can forget about boxing’.
“It was just another challenge, another opponent. I just wanted to be happy again and do what the doctors said I couldn’t do.”
He was back in the ring 17 months later and now the self-titled ‘Miracle Man’ is taking on one of the world’s most fearsome punchers.
“He’s not cancer,” said Jacobs. “This is not a life-threatening situation. This is a man coming to inflict some harm to me.
“Where the cancer and going through all my ordeals helped was strengthening my mental capacity.
“I would never have thought five years ago, through a whole bunch of craziness that I went through, that I would be fighting for the unified middleweight world championship.”
Most expect Golovkin to make Jacobs his 37th victim and the 34th man he has stopped inside the distance. But after what Jacobs has been through, it would be foolish to rule out an upset. Golovkin v Jacobs is exclusively live on BoxNation tonight. Buy now at boxnation.com. TODAY