Daniel Jacobs' trainer Andre Rozier chats it up with FightHub to talk about their upcoming title fight against Gennady Golovkin on March 18. Check out what he had to say!
On what aspects of Golovkin's game they plan on taking advantage of come fight night:
"Well, not to reveal all the secrets...[Golovkin] is a very good fighter, all fighters make mistakes. It's the team's point of impact to find those mistakes and exploit them, and that's what we plan to do. He does some things that we feel we can take advantage of and we will."
On if he looks at the Kell Brook fight as providing hints at what gives Golovkin problems:
"I give Kell Brook a lot of credit. He was a welterweight that moved up to middleweight against one of the most aggressive and toughest middleweight champs that we've had in some time, and he brought it to him. He fought. A little man, he fought.
"Of course at welterweight his hands were very fast and he took advantage of Gennady not being ready for that moment. And we plan to do the same thing. Danny has very fast hands, but he can punch. So it's gonna be a little bit different, he won't be walking through those punches like he did with Kell Brook."
On if he thinks this fight will go the distance either way it goes:
"Well my job is to win every single round that we are in the ring. So naturally I have to think about 12 rounds, that's how long the fight is. A fight's not over until it's over. So we prepare for 12 rounds. Should he be successful inside the distance, hey, thank goodness, but I'm getting him ready for 12 rounds. 12 rounds of hard, rough, tough boxing."
On what he remembers about Golovkin from the amateurs:
"Well I saw him in the Olympics and when he fought Andre Dirrell in a very close bout. Andre gave him fits with his movement. But I said 'this is a tough kid' and I hadn't seen him after that. So as he started progressing in the professional ranks I took notice and I remember watching him against Kassim Ouma and I was like 'boy this is a tough bout.' It was really a tough bout for him. They were both giving and taking and finally the referee thought Ouma had too much. I thought Ouma could actually go on because he was giving everything he got and giving it back.
"But at that point I said 'ok, either you meet him with pressure or you start dancing circles around him.' We gonna be able to do both. Why? Danny can punch, Danny has fast hands, Danny can move. I'll tell you a quick story...
"We went to training camp with Ike Quartey, the great Ike Quartey. Danny was about 16, to spar. So he got in the ring with Ike Quartey and Danny was moving like you would never believe. So Ike said 'this is not good, he moves too much, he has to go home.' [Laughs]...
On how they plan to incorporate Virgil Hunter into their training camp:
"Well, basically, Virgil and I have known each other over 20 years. I first met Virgil when Curtis Stevens and Andre Ward fought in the Silver Gloves tournament, when they were 10 and 1...Andre Ward won a 3-2 decision and that's how we became family...He's been a big brother to me ever since...
"So we're gonna go out there for the...camaraderie. Andre Ward calls me Uncle Dre. If that doesn't say enough I don't know what does. So we gonna go out there and we gonna enjoy the element of family, family feel to everything, and we gonna prepare."
On if Andre Ward is going to help prepare Jacobs for the fight:
"You might see him come in the gym [laughs]. Andre Ward, I love him to death...I know he'll come in and help, he might work out with Danny, and might even spar with him. I mean just him referring and reflecting to Danny is gonna be great..."