It was bombs away in the first round of the Daniel Jacobs-Jarrod Fletcher vacant WBA middleweight championship fight. Jacobs, Brooklyn, came out fast and dropped Fletcher with a nasty left hook in round one. After that, it seemed that every punch Jacobs threw hurt the Australian, but somehow he made it to the end of the round. In round two, Jacobs appeared to ease off for some reason, instead of going for the knockout. “When I hurt him in the first round and he didn’t go out, I wanted to pace myself and not get tired,” Jacobs said. Jacobs kept the upper hand as the rounds ticked by, but didn’t come close to putting his opponent down again. However, in round five, just when Fletcher appeared to be getting brave, Jacobs refocused and went for the kill. A hard left hook softened Fletcher before a pair of rights put him down again. Referee Michael Griffin stepped in and stopped the fight at 2:58 of round five. Jacobs improved to 28-1, 25 KOs. Fletcher fell to 18-2, 10 KOs.
