By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – Daniel Jacobs expects Gennady Golovkin to beat Canelo Alvarez in their rematch.
Jacobs scored their first fight for Golovkin, too. And like many boxing fans, Jacobs walked away from the television that night disgusted by Adalaide Byrd’s scorecard.
Jacobs just hopes the scoring of their middleweight championship rematch reflects what transpires in the ring at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (HBO Pay-Per-View).
“I just hope that the referee and the officials and everyone involved in that event can do it the honest way because there’s so much in this whole situation where it makes the sport look bad,” Jacobs said following a press conference in Manhattan recently. “It makes Canelo look bad and everybody involved in it, so I hope everybody can do the right thing. Especially with that last judge last time [Adalaide Byrd], we need to stay away from people like that.”
The Nevada State Athletic Commission has assigned only one judge who worked their first fight, Nevada’s Dave Moretti, to score their rematch.
Nevada’s Byrd, who inexplicably scored their first fight 118-110 for Alvarez, and Connecticut’s Don Trella, who scored their first fight even (114-114), won’t work their rematch. The NSAC assigned Connecticut’s Glenn Feldman and New Jersey’s Steve Weisfeld to join Moretti ringside September 15.
Trella and Weisfeld both scored the Golovkin-Jacobs fight 115-112 for Golovkin in March 2017 at Madison Square Garden. Jacobs obviously feels Golovkin lost that bout, but he thinks Golovkin will record what in his mind will be his second victory over Alvarez.
“I think he’ll beat Canelo in the rematch,” Jacobs said. “We don’t know how Canelo will be post-whatever, so we have to see. But I know Triple-G is gonna be the same. He’s gonna come forward – maybe do something a little different. I’m not sure, but I think it’ll be the same results, as far as him winning. I thought he won the first time as well.”
Jacobs, meanwhile, has begun training camp for his October 27 fight against Sergiy Derevyanchenko, which HBO will televise from The Theater at Madison Square Garden. Brooklyn’s Jacobs (34-2, 29 KOs) and Ukraine’s Derevyanchenko (12-0, 10 KOs) will fight for the vacant IBF middleweight title that was stripped from Golovkin two months ago.
2023-10-21 16:56:58
