By Ian S Palmer
Former WBA Middleweight Champion Daniel Jacobs of Brooklyn, New York will be squaring off against unbeaten Sergiy Derevyanchenko of Ukraine this Saturday, October 27th in the theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. The 12-round bout is for the vacant IBF World Middleweight Title and can be seen live in North America on HBO. Jacob’s last bout was a 12-round unanimous decision win over Maciej Sulecki in April. Derevyanchenko last fought in March when his bout against Dashon Johnson was halted after six rounds.
The 31-year-old Jacobs, who overcame bone cancer a few years ago, climbs into the ring with an impressive record of 33-2 along with 29 Kos. He defended his WBA title four times before running into Gennady Golovkin and losing it by unanimous in March of 2017. Jacobs stopped Caleb Truax in the 12th round in his first title defence in April, 2015 then stopped Sergio Mora in the second round later later that year before stopping Mora for the second time in September, 2016. In between, he stopped Peter Quillin in the first round.
Jacobs had won the vacant WBA Title in August, 2014 by stopping Jarrod Fletcher in the fifth round. His other defeat came at the hands of Dmitry Pirog in July of 2010 when he was stopped in the fifth round. Jacobs is known for his boxing skills, speed and power, but his chin could be somewhat questionable after being stopped by Pirog and dropped by Golovkin. Jacobs stands 6-feet-1-inch tall and has a reach of 73 inches. He’s got 145 rounds of experience under his belt since turning pro in 2007 and has a very impressive knockout ratio of 81 per cent.
However, he’s arguably faced just a few top-ranked opponents so far in his career and they were Pirog, Quillin, Golovkin, Mora and Caleb Truax. He’s hoping to take a world title here and then land a few more big-money bouts with the other middleweight titleholders or earn an eventual rematch with Golovkin. He’ll need to look good against Derevyanchenko on Saturday night though and will need to make sure his chin holds up against the hard hitting Ukrainian.
As for Derevyanchenko, he’s 32 years old and like Jacobs, he now fights out of Brooklyn, New York. He’ll climb through the ropes with a perfect record of 12-0 along with 10 big Kos. He’s relatively small for a middleweight at 5-foot-9 and has a reach of 67.5 inches. This means he’s four inches shorter than Jacobs and also gives up 5.5 inches in reach to the ex-champion. Derevyanchenko has boxed just 57 rounds since turning pro in 2014 and that’s mainly due to his current knockout ratio of 83 per cent.
Derevyanchenko enjoyed a fine amateur career before turning pro and boxed at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China as well as in the World Series of Boxing. There’s no doubt Derevyanchenko has good power, but he hasn’t had the chance to prove it against anybody in the upper level of the middleweight division as of yet. So far, he’s beaten the likes of Dashon Johnson, Raul Munoz, Tureano Johnson, Jessie Nicklow, Sam Soliman, Kemahl Russell and Elvin Ayala. He’ll definitely be taking a step up in class against Jacobs on Saturday night.
Prediction…
Jacobs is a fine all-round boxer with power, but may own a somewhat questionable chin and that could be a problem against a banger like Derevyanchenko. The boxers know each other well and are friends as they’re both trained by Andre Rozier, who will be in Jacobs’ camp and corner for the fight. Derevyanchenko will be guided by Gary Stark Sr. For the contest. Jacobs has quite an edge in height and reach, but he’s gone the distance in the last three fights. He’ll need speed and power to keep Derevyanchenko off of him or a very solid chin. If this ends up being a boxing match then Jacobs has the edge, but if it turns into a slugfest then it will favour Derevyanchenko. I think when it’s said and done though Jacobs will be the new IBF Middleweight Champion in a close contest and he may have to get up from the deck to win it.
