By: Hans Themistode
During a heated confrontation last year, former middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs nearly came to blows with Gabriel Rosado. The fringe contender has long wanted to get his hands on Jacobs but the former belt holder simply laughed whenever a matchup between them was discussed.
“You will never step foot in the ring with me because you don’t deserve it,” said Jacobs to Rosado during their argument. “I get nothing out of fighting you.”
Fast forward one year later, and it appears Rosado will get his wish after all.
Both Jacobs and Rosado have come to terms for a showdown that will take place on November 27th on DAZN at 168 pounds. For as much as the Philadelphia native is thrilled to have a big profile fight, he was really last on the list for DAZN executives. Originally, the streaming company was hoping to match Jacobs with John Ryder, but once things fell through on that bout, they were forced to settle on Rosado.
For the 34 year old, he’s made a career out of facing the best of the best. And because of his willingness to do so, his record has suffered in a big way as his loss column continues to pile up. With four victories in his last 13 fights, wins are becoming extremely hard to come by for the Philadelphia native. With that being said, he did pick up a fairly dominant win in his last ring appearance against the unheralded Humberto Ochoa.
As for Jacobs, he’s made a career out of facing stiff competition as well, but seldom does he ever come up short in those moments. After coming out on the losing end against Gennadiy Golovkin in 2017, Jacobs strung together three straight victories. The latter resulting in the IBF middleweight championship.
His title reign was immediately truncated however, as he loss a close but clear decision at the hands of Canelo Alvarez at the half way mark of 2019. He’s since bounced back though, beating the living daylights out of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. to the tune of a fifth round stoppage win late last year.
