Daniel Jacobs: Styles will make fight with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr a great one for fans

Daniel Jacobs is returning to action on Dec. 20, one way or another.

Either he’ll face Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in that night’s super middleweight main event on DAZN, or he’ll step in against Gabriel Rosado, a veteran scrapper who is on standby due to Chavez’s current suspension issues in Nevada, which already forced the event to Phoenix instead of the original plan, Las Vegas.

Rosado is probably the actual tougher fight, but the bigger one is certainly Chavez, whose name value was assigned at birth, even if it is greatly diminished from where it was some years back.

Jacobs (35-3, 29 KO) is coming up to super middleweight following his middleweight title unification loss to Canelo Alvarez on May 4, and is looking to impress and move quickly at 168.

“I’ve achieved a dream of becoming a world champion at middleweight and now I am seeking to secure my legacy by becoming a two-weight world champion,” he said. “There are some great fighters and champions at 168 pounds and I believe that I will be a different beast up at super middleweight.”

The hype machine is certainly on, too — Jacobs is promising a good fight for fans, which may be something neither of them can live up to when the dust settles. If the dust settles.

“Facing Julio is a great test for my first fight (at 168), he’s a former middleweight champion like me and he has the same goal as I do,” Jacobs said. “Julio is always in great fight and I am sure that our styles will gel to be a thriller for the fans, and I plan to announce my arrival at 168 pounds in style.”

Chavez (51-3-1, 33 KO) hasn’t been in anything much of anybody would consider a “great fight” in at least six years, and that’s probably being nice and stretching the idea of “great” considerably. And the last time most fans saw Chavez, he was in one of the worst major pay-per-view bouts you’ll ever see, as he sleepwalked through 12 rounds against the aforementioned Canelo.

But time will tell if we even see Chavez in this fight at all, and we should know in about nine days. His hearing for evading VADA tests in Nevada is set for Nov. 20, and if they lift his temporary suspension, all systems will be go; at that point, only the legitimate potential for Chavez to pull out for some other reason will remain an issue, and Rosado will be training and ready, anyway.