By Minnie Larry
In front of a packed Madison Square Garden, 19,939 boxing fans watched Gennady “GGG” Golovkin 37-0, 34 KOs) defeat Daniel “Miracle Man” Jacobs (32-2, 29 KOs) by unanimous decision. In the early rounds, Golovkin stalked the skittish Jacobs moving forward with a powerful jab. Jacobs tried to shake things up in Round 2 by switching to southpaw but GGG’s power dissuaded the “Miracle Man” from continuing this effort. In Round 4, “Triple G” knocked Jacobs down with a stiff jab, followed by a powerful right hand.
The knock down seemed to awaken an over cautious Jacobs. Afterwards, Jacobs began to stick and move. “GGG” abandoned the jab and began to look for the one-punch knock out. This played into Jacob’s game plan. The “Miracle Man” took advantage by landing stiff body blows. Golovkin would regain his foothold in Round 9, when he wobbled Jacobs with a pair of uppercuts. In Round 10, the “Miracle Man” returned the favor by stunning “Triple G” with a solid right hand. Jacobs would follow up with a series of body shots which caused Golovkin to retreat. The fight was back and forth all the way till the closing bell. Although, GGG’s knock out streak came to the end, he continued his winning ways, with the judges awarding him the unanimous victory (115-113 2x, and 114-113).
CompuBox total punches: Golovkin 233 of 618 (38%), Jacobs 176 of 542 (32%)
After the fight:
Jacobs proclaimed he’d won the fight and suggested the bout was given to “GGG” due to the impending super fight between Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez. “Obviously he’s a bigger draw than me, and they want to make that super matchup with him and Canelo, so Daniel Jacobs got X’d out; I won the fight.”
About Jacobs, “Triple G” stated “I respect Daniel Jacobs, and he did a very good job and clean job.” GGG went on to state he would be open to giving Jacobs a rematch.
In the upset of the year, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (42-4-1, 38KOs) scored a majority decision win over pound- for -pound king, Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (46-1, 38KOs), to win the WBC Super Flyweight belt. Gonzalez got off to a rocky start when he went down from a right to the body in the 1st round. Rungvisai took advantage of “Chocolatito” straight forward style, by landing substantial counterpunches, stunning the much smaller Gonzalez.
By round 3, “Chocolatito” suffered a cut above his right eye; from an accidental head-butt. The two would battle in the pocket during the middle rounds, both landing thunderous blows. In round 6, Gonzalez was hurt by another head-butt, forcing referee Steve Willis to issue Rungvisai a stern warning. In round 7, “Chocolatito” landed a vicious combination stunning Rungvisai; However, Rungvisai would retort, landing another head-butt, of which he was docked a point. Gonzalez would turn on the action in the later rounds, seemingly hurting Rungvisai with every punch. In round 12, the two would exchange power shots. Chocolatito would suffer his 1st loss, by majority decision 114-112 2x, and 113-113.
Undercard:
Carlos Cuadras (36-1-1, 27KOs) won unanimous decision over David Carmona in a 10-round super flyweight bout.
Ryan Martin (18-0 11KOs) scored an 8th round TKO over Bryant Cruz (17-2, 8KOs), in a lightweight contest.
Andy Lee (35-3-1, 24KOs) beat KeAndrae Leatherwood (19-4-1, 12KOs) by unanimous decision in a middleweight fight.
Matt McKinney (4-2-2, 1KOs) won a majority decision over Jay McFarlane (2-1, 2KOs) in a heavyweight contest.
Serhii Bohachuk (3-0, 3KOs) scored a 3rd round TKO over Ysmani Pedroso (1-2, 1KOs) in a welterweight bout.
