Friday night at the Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania, in the fight televised live on Spike TV, WBA World middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs), the “Miracle Man” from Brooklyn, New York, TKO’d former WBC World super welterweight champion Sergio “The Latin Snake” Mora (28-5-2, 9 KOs), from Los Angeles, California, at 2:08 of round seven.
When the two men fought a year ago, Jacobs scored a second round TKO when Mora broke his ankle and could not continue. The end of the rematch was not as dramatic as the end of their first fight, which was short and sweet, but Jacobs established his superiority by dropping Mora five times before it was stopped.
Fighting out of the blue corner in grey trunks with blue trim, Jacobs controlled the action while Mora moved around the ring, switches stances in the hope of befuddling the champ.
But Mora, fighting out of the red corner in black and gold trunks, however much he moved, failed to impress. He also failed to justify the rematch, which many people, including Jacobs himself, questioned a week before the fight.
“I just understand that this fight for my career at this particular point isn’t really going to do anything for me,” said Jacobs. “It’s more going to do anything—more for Sergio than it would do for me. But, me and him have the same management in Al Haymon. So, I can understand why this fight is being made.”
That understanding is a given. What is not a given is the quality or lack thereof of Jacobs’ performance. Granted, styles make fights. By the same token, wrong styles make for fights that are less memorable than forgettable, which describes tonight’s one-sided beatdown.
Mora is awkward and uses that awkwardness to his advantage. But at the age of 35 and with only nine knockouts in 35 fights, Mora knew what he was up against and seemed as interested in survival as victory, especially when victory seemed so remote, and grew increasingly remote as the rounds progressed.
Jacobs is a great guy who it is impossible not to like. He is also a terrific fighter. But Friday night he fought a somewhat undisciplined fight, looking for a knockout instead of letting it come naturally.
Now that Mora is out of the way a second time, Jacobs has set his sights on WBA Super World middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, the undefeated knockout artist from Karaganda, Kazakhstan, who he called out after the fight.
Golovkin is the consensus greatest middleweight fighting today. But if Jacobs decides to fight Triple G the way he fought Mora, looking for the KO, throwing and missing shots against a fighter who had no business being in the ring with him, it might be a short night for the “Miracle Man.”
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.
