Daniel Jacobs can succeed where Rocky Fielding fell short by ** use of his size advantage against Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez, according to Eddie Hearn.
IBF champion Jacobs takes on Alvarez - who holds the WBA and WBC belts - in a mouth-watering middleweight unification bout on May 4, with the pair topping the card at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Canelo is back in action at 160 pounds after a brief switch to super-middleweight, as he dismantled Fielding inside three rounds despite being up against an opponent who was not only experienced at the limit but also several inches taller than the Mexican.
Jacobs was noticeably the bigger man when he stood for face-to-face photographs with his next opponent at Wednesday's news conference, though promoter Hearn insists the American will not just be relying on his physical traits to record the biggest victory of his career.
"No disrespect to Rocky, he's not as good as Daniel Jacobs," Hearn told Omnisport.
"He [Fielding] made a lot of mistakes; he sat on the ropes, he didn't use his feet, he was probably overawed by the occasion - all the things that Danny Jacobs is not going to be.
"Danny Jacobs is not going to let Canelo attack the body like Rocky did and all kinds of different things. Danny Jacobs is not as big as Rocky Fielding, but he certainly has a huge size advantage to Canelo - don't forget, Danny Jacobs is quite considerably bigger than Gennady Golovkin, who is quite considerably bigger than Canelo.
"It's definitely an advantage, but you have to use the size. Fielding didn't use his size and he perhaps wasn't good enough to use his size. But Danny can use his attributes and he has the skill to make it count."
Jacobs became a world champion with victory over Sergiy Derevyanchenko last October, having fallen short when challenging Golovkin for the WBA and WBC titles the previous year, though he did become the first opponent to take the Kazakh the distance over 12 rounds.
However, Hearn believes the 32-year-old New Yorker - nicknamed 'Miracle Man' after overcoming cancer to resume his boxing career - has the opportunity to make a statement that will resonate around the world by beating Canelo on Cinco de Mayo weekend.
"This is a fight that can take you to global stardom, not just national stardom," he said.
"But perhaps more importantly for Danny, this is a fight where his story can really be heard worldwide. And there's not one person that wouldn't see the photos and hear the stories who would not be inspired by this great young man."
2023-10-22 20:17:19
