By: Hans Themistode
Promoter Eddie Hearn is doing all he can to get former middleweight champion, Daniel Jacobs, one of the biggest fights of his career.
According to reporter Mike Coppinger, Hearn revealed to him several weeks ago, that he fully intended on making a multi-million dollar offer to WBO light heavyweight champion, Joe Smith Jr. Staying true to his word, Hearn did, in fact, send an offer to the Long Island native. Seemingly happy with the terms of the agreement, Smith Jr. appears to be fully on board.
“Just got word from my team that there’s an offer to fight Daniel Jacobs,” said Smith Jr. on his Instagram account. “I love this fight, especially in New York.”
The possible showdown between Smith Jr. and Jacobs comes as somewhat of a surprise. After defeating Maxim Vlasov earlier this year for the vacant WBO title, promoter Bob Arum stated on numerous occasions that he would immediately schedule a unification showdown against WBC/IBF champion, Artur Beterbiev.
Yet, with an unexpected offer to face Jacobs, Smith Jr. appears more than willing to turn his attention towards him. More than anything, facing his fellow New York native allows Smith Jr. to take a trip down memory lane.
“Growing up fighting in the amateurs, there were two fighters, Danny and Will Rosinsky, that I loved going to see fight. Every time I got the opportunity to see them fight, they would destroy their opponent and I learned a lot about the sport of boxing from watching them. I never got the chance to face them in the amateurs due to them being a little older than I was. Unfortunately, when the time came that I was ready, they had become professionals.
In 2015, I got the opportunity to face Will at the Barclay’s Center and to me, it has been one of my biggest accomplishments as a fighter. I learned so much that night.”
As for Jacobs, a move to the light heavyweight division could see his run as a super middleweight short-lived. After losing his IBF middleweight title against Canelo Alvarez in May of 2019, Jacobs grew tired of squeezing his enormous frame down to the 160-pound limit and instead, moved up in weight. The trek eight pounds north has proved to be successful thus far as Jacobs has picked up back-to-back wins against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Gabriel Rosado. The latter, however, ended controversially as most of the boxing world believed Rosado should have been given the nod.
Regardless of just arriving in his new weight class roughly a year and a half ago, Jacobs appears ready to move up. By all accounts, Smith Jr. is set to welcome him with open arms. Not only would a win over the former 160-pound belt holder net him one of the biggest wins of his career, but more importantly, it will allow Smith Jr. to put to bed the one question that has been on his mind since he was a young child.
“I would love to face Danny to end that thought of what if we fought? In my mind as a kid.”