A Dan shame
Danny Jacobs thought he fought the perfect fight; thought he had done all he needed to do to upset Gennady Golovkin and capture the middleweight championship before 19,939 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
But when the scorecards were read the anticipation of victory was shattered by a stunning defeat. After 12 hard-fought rounds, Golovkin of Kazakhstan was awarded a unanimous decision 115-112 twice and 114-113. The Post scored the fight 115-112 for Jacobs.
Golovkin dropped the Brooklyn native in the fourth round for the only knock down of the fight. The rest was a battle of wills as Jacobs took Golovkin’s best punches while delivering his own damage. He found success in the second half of the fight from a southpaw stance and seemed to finish strong. He won the last three rounds on two of the judges’ cards.
“I felt like I won the fight,” Jacobs said. “But I can’t cry. I have to continue to perform.”
Golovkin called Jacobs, “a very good fighter” and was agreeable to a rematch in the future. “Of course, I want that fight,” he said.
Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) retained the WBC, WBA and IBO titles. Roman Gonzalez was upset in the cofeature losing the WBC Super Flyweight title to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai of Thailand.
Golovkin, making his 18th title defense, carried a streak of 23 consecutive knockouts into the fight, while Jacobs had stopped his last 12 opponents. The pre-fight hype centered on whether Jacobs could get Golovkin’s respect with his own punching power and could he withstand the pressure and Golovkin’s damaging punches.
With fans chanting “Let’s Go Jacobs” and “Tri-plegee,” the action began to heat up in the third round where Golovkin landed his first hard body punch of the fight. Jacobs answered with a hard right hand and left hook that got the champion’s attention.
Golovkin landed two thunderous right hands that dropped Jacobs early in the fourth round. He would survive the round, but Golovkin came out strong to start the fifth, landing a hard right that kept Jacobs on the defensive.
But by the seventh, Jacobs was back in the fight and began switching from orthodox to southpaw. A vicious toe-to-toe exchange to end the seventh brought the crowd to its feet.
A right upper cut by Golovkin hurt Jacobs in the ninth, but a right-left combination by Jacobs started the 10th. Jacobs stuck with his southpaw stance and scored with his right jab and a sneaky left. The challenger ended the 10th with two left hooks and enjoyed a strong 11th.
Heading into the 12th round it was anybody’s fight. Jacobs kept his hands busy as Golovkin tried to land a knockout punch. When the bell sounded Jacobs collapsed into the ropes.
“I think I won by two rounds at least,” Jacobs said. “All I can do is be gracious in the decision.”
Jacobs had overcome monumental odds to earn the chance to face Golovkin. The multiple Golden Gloves champion from Brownsville had his life and career threatened when a cancerous tumor wrapped itself around his spine in 2010.
But after 19 months away from the ring, he made a triumphant return, capturing the regular WBA middleweight title. Beating Golovkin would have validated his middleweight supremacy and position him for crossover stardom.
He gave up a chance to win the IBF title when he didn’t show up for the mandatory weight check Saturday morning.