By Ian S Palmer
One of the year’s best boxing matchups will take place this Saturday, December 5th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York as local natives Daniel Jacobs and the undefeated Peter Quillin will battle it out. Jacobs will be defending his WBA Middleweight Championship in the 12-round contest and it can be seen live in the U.S. on the Showtime Network. Fans in the UK will be able to catch the action line on BoxNation. Since both boxers represent Brooklyn, even though Quillin was born in Chicago, this should help draw a pretty big crowd as they clash for local bragging rights.
The 28-year-old Jacobs will climb into the ring with an impressive record of 30-1 along with 27 Kos. He stands 6-feet tall and has a reach of 73 inches. His biggest wins have been against the likes of Sergio Mora, Caleb Truax and Jarrod Fletcher and he stopped all three of them. His lone career loss came against Dmitry Pirog when he was stopped in the fifth round back in 2010. The 32-year-old Quillin has a near-perfect record of 32-0-1 with 23 Kos to his name. He’s an inch shorter at 5-feet-11 and also has a slight reach disadvantage with his 71.5-inch wingspan. Quillin’s top victories have been against Gabriel Rosado, Jesse Brinkley and Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam while his draw came against Ireland’s Andy Lee back in April.
Both boxers are considered to be among the top five or six middleweights in the world, but neither of them has really faced an elite opponent as of yet. Quillin is a former WBO World Middleweight Champion, but lost the title on the weigh scales against Lee. He was decked for the first time in his career against Lee, but got back up and showed he has a lot of heart. He’ll be facing another opponent in Jacobs who has good power and also fast hands. Quillin enters the fight with a current knockout ratio of 70 per cent while Jacobs’ is 87 per cent. As far as experience goes, Jacobs has boxed 101 rounds since turning pro in 2007 while Quillin has gone 165 rounds since 2005.
Quillin has been involved is a few exciting fights and has shown he has enough power to drop just about anyone. However, he’s not hard to find in the ring and his chin, like Jacobs’ could be considered to be somewhat questionable. Jacobs has the better boxing skills, speed, and mobility, and also has the size and age advantage. He’ll try to utilize these slightly superior skills while Quillin usually adopts a more flat-footed stance while throwing his power shots. These two guys know each other well and it could lead to a somewhat cautious beginning in the first two or three rounds.
Sooner or later they’re going to have to trade punches though and this is when things should get interesting and more exciting for the fans. Jacobs likes to throw quick combinations from different angles while Quillin is needs to elude them and fire back with his own shots. There could be a knockdown or two along the way here and it wouldn’t be a surprise if both of them hit the deck.
Prediction
Yet again we have another close fight to call. Quillin is the straight ahead opponent in this matchup while Jacobs is the boxer/puncher. Their chins will be a big factor in the contest, but it’s likely to go the distance. Based on their styles, Jacobs should retain his belt via a close decision or even a draw.
