By Keith Idec
LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez believes he can knock out any opponent he fights.
Even though he has displayed a granite chin throughout his career, the hard-hitting middleweight champion also realizes anyone can get knocked out. That’s why the Mexican superstar doesn’t put too much stock in the fact that one of Daniel Jacobs’ two losses came by technical knockout.
“Look, he’s a strong fighter,” Alvarez told reporters prior to a press conference Wednesday at MGM Grand. “He’s a big fighter. He has a knockout loss against him, but that can happen to anyone. You know, you don’t see it and you get caught, it can happen to anybody in boxing. But at the end of the day, we’re only a couple days away. We’re gonna see Saturday night how everything unfolds.”
The last time Jacobs fought in Las Vegas, his middleweight title fight unfolded different than how the Brooklyn native envisions the Alvarez bout playing out Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena (DAZN).
Jacobs was beating Russia’s Dmitry Pirog by the same score, 39-37, on all three scorecards before their fight completely changed early in the fifth round. Pirog drilled Jacobs with an overhand right that left Jacobs flat on his back.
Jacobs attempted to get up, but referee Robert Byrd stopped counting at five and used his hand to keep Jacobs from trying to get to his feet. Jacobs protested and yelled, “I’m good,” at Byrd, but their fight for Pirog’s WBO middleweight championship was stopped at 57 seconds of the fifth round in July 2010 at Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Sergio Mora and Gennady Golovkin dropped Jacobs in subsequent bouts.
He came back from a first-round knockdown to stop Mora in the seventh round of their August 2015 match at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Jacobs got up from his fourth-knockdown against Golovkin, but the former middleweight champion beat Jacobs by unanimous decision in March 2017 at Madison Square Garden.
The 28-year-old Alvarez (51-1-2, 35 KOs) is listed as a 4-1 favorite over the 32-year-old Jacobs (35-2, 29 KOs) in their 12-round fight for Alvarez’s WBA and WBC middleweight titles and Jacobs’ IBF 160-pound crown.
2023-10-23 04:28:33
