On August 1, 2015, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, Brooklyn’s own Danny “Miracle Man” Jacobs (29-1, 26 KOs) defends his WBA World middleweight title against former super welterweight champion Sergio “The Latin Snake” Mora (28-3-2, 9 KOs), from Los Angeles, California.
Danny Jacobs has been to hell and back. He beat cancer, and his next challenge is to beat The Latin Snake. Mora is on a five-fight win streak. He has every intention of spoiling the party. But Jacobs has intentions of his own.
“I’m looking forward to testing my challenge against this slick, crafty veteran in Sergio Mora,” he said during a recent teleconference call. “I’m not where I want to be as a fighter thus far. You’re still growing, you’re still learning. I’m trying to really gain as much experience as I can. He’s been in this position before. He’s already accustomed to being in this position and being an underdog but I can’t take him lightly. There’s not a lot of fear as far as power is concerned, but where he lacks that he makes up in his craftiness and his slickness and awkwardness and sometimes he does engage in the action as well. So I’m looking forward to testing my skills against a crafty veteran.”
The 34-year-old Mora has been fighting professionally for 15 years and has never been stopped.
“The test with Sergio Mora is whether he can be stopped or whether or not I can go the distance with him,” said Jacobs. “He’s never been stopped before, so it will be icing on the cake to be able to not only to defeat him but to stop him. But he’s crafty. If I can take a win over a guy like that, a win is a win to me. But at the end of the day, what the fans want to see is knockouts. What the fans want is spectacular fights. If we produce a fantastic fight and a competitive fight, I’m content with that. A knockout is just icing on the cake.”
Danny Jacobs is a class act. He never badmouths opponents. He respects every man he faces.
“Sergio Mora knows what it is to go the distance. He knows what it is to be in a dogfight. What I’m looking forward to is a ladder. You can’t skip the ladder. You can’t skip any steps, or you’ll fall. So we take it a step by the time. I’m looking forward to this one. I don’t take him lightly whatsoever. I clearly mark him as one of the toughest, craftiest most experienced guys that I have faced.”
Experience counts for a lot, as does being a young champion on the rise.
“I feel like I have a lot more advantages than he does in the fight. If it’s my speed, then I’ll stick to using my speed. If it’s my power, backing him down, showing him what a real middleweight feels like, then that’s what I will do. But it’s all about adjusting because, you know, not a lot of things may work according to the game plan. So you got to go to Plan B, Plan C and so on and so forth. So I’m just looking forward to seeing what works for me, figuring it out, because it is a puzzle, it is a chess game when you fight a guy like Sergio.”
Danny Jacobs vs. Sergio Mora will be televised live on ESPN on August 1, starting at 9:00 pm ET/6:00 pm PT. ESPN Deportes will also televise the fight live as part of its Noche de Combates series and ESPN International will present live coverage across its networks in Latin America, Brazil, the Caribbean and Pacific Rim. Live coverage will also be available through WatchESPN on computers, smartphones, tablets, Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One via an affiliated video provider.
This article was penned by the author who is not related to the WBA and the statements, expressions or opinions referenced herein are that of the author alone and not the WBA.
