Danny Jacobs vs. Sergiy Derevyanchenko

[Master]

Jacobs vs. Derevyanchenko: Derevyanchenko stands in Danny Jacobs' way of opening path to Canelo or GGG

Conventional wisdom would have fight fans believing that if Danny Jacobs scores a convincing win over Sergiy Derevyanchenko at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night that “The Miracle Man” would position himself as the front-runner to face unified middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez next.

Alvarez’s Dec. 15 bout against super middleweight champion Rocky Fielding further fuels that thinking, considering the timing for a possible Canelo-Jacobs fight during the spring would make sense.

But there are no certainties in boxing and things that make sense on paper don’t always make sense to the promoting powers that be.

“It’s set for a Canelo fight [if Jacobs defeats Derevyanchenko], but the thing you have to realize is nothing is set in stone in boxing,” Jacobs’s trainer Andre Rozier told Sporting News on Thursday at the Garden following the final press conference for the Oct. 27 fight. “It might be easier to get ‘GGG’ at this point than Canelo because is riding the mighty wave of being the king of boxing. Next to [heavyweight champion Anthony] Joshua, who else compares? So, that’s a tough call.”

But for the 31-year-old Jacobs to reach that fork in the road with Alvarez as one option and Golovkin as the other, he’s likely going to have to defeat Derevyanchenko first. And that’s not going to be an easy task, considering Jacobs played a significant role in getting Derevyanchenko to this point.

Shortly after arriving from his native Ukraine to the United States, Derevyanchenko joined the shared fighting camp led by trainers Rozier and Gary Stark Jr. As Derevyanchenko made the move up to middleweight, it became a natural progression for he and Jacobs to spar.

The whole time that the two logged sparring rounds, Jacobs (34-2, 29 KOs) was entering his prime as a savvy veteran and legit pound-for-pound best contender, while Derevyanchenko (12-0, 10 KOs) was coming into his own as “The Technician,” adding impressive wins on his record as well.

Jacobs and Derevyanchenko wound up accumulating over 300 rounds of sparring, which included “The Miracle Man’s” preparation for his bout against Gennady Golovkin in March 2017 — a fight that many believe Jacobs won, despite the unanimous decision in favor of “GGG.”

“Anytime you spar somebody who’s good, that’s got great talent, you learn from them,” Jacobs told Sporting News. “I’m not sure how much I’ve learned, but I definitely think he’s been able to keep me sharp in the times I’ve had him as a sparring partner — especially for the Golovkin fight. Very similar European style. He was able to keep me sharp. Any time you’re in there with someone good, iron is going to sharpen iron.”

As steel sharpened steel, everyone from Rozier to Stark, Jacobs and Derevyanchenko saw this Oct. 27 date coming long before the actual fight was cemented.

Simply put: Derevyanchenko helped pushed Jacobs to the point of reaching middleweight supremacy. And Derevyanchenko, 32, had gotten so good in the process, that he became a threat to reaching that same mantle himself.



The two sparring to put one another on a fast track wasn’t going to work anymore. That track soon turned into a collision course and everyone knew what had to be done.

Rozier, who has trained Jacobs since the Brooklyn boxer was 14, stuck with “The Miracle Man.”

Stark shifted to training Derevyanchenko full-time.

Now, the question is, did the familiar fighters show too much of their hand — pun intended — to each other over the years?

Rozier says it’s tricky. The longtime trainer said Jacobs and Derevyanchenko did have to bring their best while sparring, but that doesn’t necessarily mean exposing their full arsenal.

“They do and don’t,” Rozier explains. “They do in a sense because we are fighting. We're practicing and doing what we have to do to get right. On the other hand, sparring and fighting are two different things.”

If Jacobs wins Saturday night, he may just get that shot against Alvarez or perhaps he’ll watch the opportunity slide with a recently-victorious Demetrius Andrade — or another boxer — possibly sneaking into that position. Or maybe he’ll win and face “GGG” for a chance to exact revenge.

But before either route appears on Jacobs's GPS, the familiar challenge of getting past Derevyanchenko awaits.

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/jac...203813819.html

[Freedom]

This reminds me a bit of Hatton-Mayweather, Derevyanchenko being the smaller man with a serious reach disadvantage.


I'll be rooting for Derevyanchenko, but he's up against it here, fighting in Jacobs' back yard.

The ref, judges, crowd, and event promoter will be on Jacobs' side. Derevyanchenko will need a KO to win.

[Alpha]

This has the potential to be a great fight. I really like what I see with Derevyanchenko, but Jacobs showed against GGG that he can hang with the best. I'm backing Sergiy, but its truly 50/50 for me, I can envision many different possible scenarios that could occur, but I'm thinking Sergiy breaks Jacobs down late. It will be interesting to see how Jacobs looks with the 2nd day weigh in.

[TitoFan]

I was surprised to see it was on HBO, then remembered that HBO is ditching boxing AFTER the Jacobs-Dere fight.

Lampley I assume will have some sort of speech ready. TBH, I'm also gonna miss The Fight Game. Wasn't a bad show.

[Fenster]

I like Derevyanchenko for the upset, his combo's are terrific and fancy him to pop inside on Jacobs to offset the size difference.

[p4pking]

I see it as a 50/50 also, but there having sparred so much together makes me wonder. Who promotes Deveryanchenko, has he got major backing? Obviously sparring is sparring, but with that many rounds, they will know each other extremely well. Strikes me Jacobs didn’t have to take the fight if he wasn’t confident he knew something, but maybe I’m being cynical/reading too much into it. Great fight in any case.

[Spicoli]

Like the speed and accuracy of Derevyanchenko to keep Jacobs resetting. Might be totally off, but I don't think Jacobs sees at least half of them coming.

[Beanz]

I am assuming even Ron will be happy with this one. Very decent match up that seems like a coin toss on paper. Jacobs I think may struggle late with Sergiys style making him look easy to hit for the judges.

[Fenster]

I was surprised to see it was on HBO, then remembered that HBO is ditching boxing AFTER the Jacobs-Dere fight.

Lampley I assume will have some sort of speech ready. TBH, I'm also gonna miss The Fight Game. Wasn't a bad show.

@TitoFan - I thought of you seeing this undercard face off (I checked the girl with the whiskers is deffo not trans...neither the other one)

[TitoFan]

Dayam!

I was about to launch into a tirade on how women should not be fighting men.

Seriously though, Shelley "Shelito's Way" Vincent looks manlier than the average Joe off the street.

Hard to believe they're the same weight, too. Looks like a midget-vs-giant affair.

Also noticed they have 5 big wins by way of knockout between them in 44 combined wins. Safe to say it'll probably go the distance.

[Ron Swanson]

I am assuming even Ron will be happy with this one. Very decent match up that seems like a coin toss on paper. Jacobs I think may struggle late with Sergiys style making him look easy to hit for the judges.

Of course I am. As I would have been if GGG would have fought Derevyanchenko instead of Martirosyan but GGG will GGG.

Like P4P I’m suspicious of the sparring knowing Jacobs had options. On paper it’s a good one, hope it pans out that way. Winner is an acceptable opponent for anyone. Loser is a good name opponent for anyone trying to get at the big names.

Any fight that brings clarity to a division is a good fight.

[Primo Carnera]

Dayam!

I was about to launch into a tirade on how women should not be fighting men.

Seriously though, Shelley "Shelito's Way" Vincent looks manlier than the average Joe off the street.

Hard to believe they're the same weight, too. Looks like a midget-vs-giant affair.

Also noticed they have 5 big wins by way of knockout between them in 44 combined wins. Safe to say it'll probably go the distance.

I never opened the video, and I swear on my life, I thought the shorter one was a bloke!! I thought what the fuck is going on, is a guy fighting a bird?

[Primo Carnera]

The Blonde Bird has got a great pair of tits!

[Kirkland Laing]

I see it as a 50/50 also, but there having sparred so much together makes me wonder. Who promotes Deveryanchenko, has he got major backing? Obviously sparring is sparring, but with that many rounds, they will know each other extremely well. Strikes me Jacobs didn’t have to take the fight if he wasn’t confident he knew something, but maybe I’m being cynical/reading too much into it. Great fight in any case.

I was thinking it was a tough fight for Jacobs till I read about the sparring. If Jacobs knows him that well and took the fight then he's basically expecting a sparring session. This is a date HBO gave to Hearn as part of a previous fight deal and something they've got to do before they sign off and something Hearn had to fulfil before he did the deal with these streaming people. The budget for the opponent won't have been fantastic.

[SportsNews2018]

The Daniel Jacobs vs. Sergiy Derevyanchenko match is going to be an exciting one for sure.
I am looking forward to seeing the match in person on Sat at MSG in NY.

I am honored to have exclusively interviewed Daniel Jacobs for The Ravi Report and in the process, found out what
an intelligent, hardworking and devoted parent and boxer he is. Jacobs spoke about his career, his cancer and how he
came back into the ring ready to go. He is a true role model for many young and upcoming athletes.

First time posting in forum and I am happy to see so many informative and positive comments about boxing and boxing champions.
Thank you.