If WBA, IBF, IBO and interim WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) and WBC titleholder Canelo Alvarez cannot come to an agreement on a unification bout, the WBA will order Triple G to face its regular champion Danny “Miracle Man” Jacobs (31-1, 28 KOs), per Steve Kim of Boxing Scene.
Jacobs is Golovkin’s WBA mandatory challenger and the governing body could strip GGG of the title if he refuses to face its regular champion. It’s clear Golovkin prefers to face Canelo and its hard to blame him.
A bout with Canelo will be a much bigger payday and the Mexican superstar has yet to fight at 160 pounds. Jacobs has held his version of the WBA’s 160-pound crown since August 2014. He has successfully defended the title three times and that includes a first-round stoppage win over Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin in December 2015.
WBA head Gilberto Jesus Mendoza said: “The thing we’re trying to work out is I don’t want any controversy with the WBC regarding the ‘Canelo’ situation. So we’re trying to sit down with Mauricio (Sulaiman) and work it out.”
Golovkin faced and destroyed his IBF mandatory challenger last Saturday in Inglewood, California. He disposed of an overmatched Dominic Wade in the second round to run his string of consecutive KOs to 22.
While Jacobs’ name doesn’t resonate with fight fans the way Canelo’s does, there’s no question he would represent the toughest opposition Golovkin will have faced in his career—at least on paper.
Jacobs is athletic, tough and skilled as a boxer. He’s also a strong puncher and a legitimate middleweight. That alone makes him a more intriguing opponent than some of the fighters Golovkin has already defeated.
If the fight community can’t have Golovkin-Canelo, a fight with Jacobs isn’t a bad consolation.
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.
