By: Sean Crose
Middleweight contender Daniel Jacobs recently announced that he had teamed up with British super promoter Eddie Hearn. Not only that, Jacobs also made it clear that he had teamed up with HBO. It was obviously a fresh start for the man who gave middleweight champ Gennady Golovkin a run for his money when they met in New York’s Madison Square Garden last winter. Now it’s been announced that Jacobs, the skilled 30 year old with a record of 32-2, will be facing the undefeated 18-0 Luis Arias at New York’s Nassau Coliseum on November 11th.
Photos Courtesy Matchroom Boxing/Ed Mulholland
The bout will headline an HBO card that will also showcase heavyweight Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller, as the 19-0 knockout artist (all but two of his fights haven’t made it to the final bell) battles Mariusz Wach, 33-2, in a 12 rounder. Miller recently defeated contender Gerald Washington in impressive fashion last July. This time around, he’ll be facing a man who once fought Wladimir Klitschko for the heavyweight championship (he lost by unambitious decision). Wach has won six out of seven since his 2012 title loss, however, and will clearly see this as a chance to make a mark of a very large stage.
As for Milwaukee’s Arias, the chance to face the fighter known as “The Miracle Man” is the opportunity of a lifetime. The 27 year old has never fought anyone near the level of Jacobs before. What’s more, Jacobs is a native of Brooklyn. That means Arias will be facing a New Yorker in New York. Wach, a native of Poland, will be finding himself in the same situation as Arias that night, for Miller is a Brooklyn native, like Jacobs. For his own part, though, Arias is eager for the 12 round opportunity that’s presented itself. “I’ve been hungry for a fight of this magnitude,” he says, “and I’m going to shock the world.”
If that were to be the case, it would prove disastrous for promoter Hearn, who clearly has big plans for Jacobs. “We believe that Danny is the number one middleweight in the world,” he claims, “and the aim is to collect every belt in the division.” England’s Hearn is clearly aware of something American promoters haven’t been – the fact that Jacobs is marketable. A pleasant personality and cancer survivor with a high ring IQ and thunderous power, Jacobs remains a man to watch at middleweight, despite the fact that he dropped a decision to Golovkin in a very close fight. Indeed, Jacobs remains a serious threat to Canelo Alvarez, Gennady Golovkin and any other big name in the middleweight division And his alliance with Hearn – along with HBO – only serves to make the threat he presents more formidable.
Provided, of course, that he gets past Arias this November.