With the news breaking that middleweights Daniel Jacobs (34-2, 29 KOs) and Sergiy Derevyanchenko (12-0, 10 KOs) will be squaring off for the vacant IBF title, the one stripped off of Gennady Golovkin, the fighters held their opening press conference in New York City.
“This is for the love of the sport, this is for the love of boxing,” Jacobs said.
Jacobs, 31, is most recently coming off two decision wins over Luis Arias and Maciej Sulecki since he dropped a decision to Golovkin back in early 2017. Derevyanchenko, however, is expected to pose a much stiffer test than either of Jacobs’ last two opponents.
Derevyanchenko, 32, may only have 12 professional fights on his resume but he’s thought to be a rock solid contender who certainly looks the part. He’s never been in with anyone as good as Jacobs before though, so this fight should prove to be a real litmus test as to just how good Derevyanchenko really is.