As Daniel Jacobs prepares to take on Maciej Sulecki this weekend on HBO, the middleweight fighter talks about his preparation for the fight and wanting a showdown with Jermall Charlo.
Jacobs on his expectations for Sulecki:
“Well a guy who has the mentality of nothing to lose, he’s a very dangerous guy. You have to be careful, and I learned that in Sergio Mora fight. You gotta be careful when a guy has his back to the wall and you think he’s in danger or you think he has nothing to lose. You gotta be careful, he can catch you with one shot and that can end it all. I mean, chances are very unlikely but you still gotta keep that in the back of your mind. This is boxing and I believe anything can happen.
“I’ve prepped very well regardless of how I view him as an opponent. My hard work and dedication inside that ring has backed up my idea of respecting this guy. Right, I don’t know if he’s the most talented, if he’s the strongest I’ve ever faced or — he’s definitely one of the tallest guys I’ve ever fought — but it is yet to bee seen what he’ll bring to the table come Saturday night, but I am prepared.”
On if he thinks Golovkin will have any problems against Martirosyan:
“Oh, with a guy who had three weeks notice?! It’s expected for him to look victorious and be impressive. But this is boxing, anything can happen and Vanes is a good fighter as well.”
On if he’s looking for a fight against Jermall Charlo if he can’t get rematch with Golovkin in September:
“100%. That’s the fight that I want because the fans consider him to be one of the best. You know, as fighters in the boxing world, we still know he still gotta lot to prove, we know he hasn’t really fought anyone worthy of him calling himself the best of division, or people are avoiding him — whatever his claim to fame is.
“I believe that I wanna do it for the fans sake because this is something that the fans truly want. He’s a very skillful guy, taking nothing away from him but he still has a lot to prove in my opinion, amongst the boxing world, especially amongst us middleweights who really know and who has put in that work before to have the right to say we are the best in the division.”
On Charlo having two fights at middleweight thus far:
“Yeah but he had two fights against who though? That’s my point. You know, if he would have had fights against some worthy opponents, people probably even in the top 10, top 15, you know, respectable opponents — my guy [Sulecki] knocked out Centeno before he got a chance to. You know, that says a lot.
“I’m fighting an undefeated guy. You know, I’m calling out all these big names but we’re still getting guys that are worthy, that the fans won’t say, you know, we’re cherry-picking or the fans will still respect. And this guy [Sulecki], can’t take him lightly but, you know, he’s definitely a worthy opponent to be inside that ring, you know?!”