With tomorrow being the big fight between middleweight titleholders Canelo Alvarez and Daniel Jacobs, Jacobs takes some more time to chat with Fight Hub TV about his impending battle, how he prepares himself mentally, and why he envisions knocking Canelo out. Check out some excerpts below...
Jacobs on how fight week experience has been:
“It’s been as expected. i knew that it would be a really popular event so obviously with all the media, all the fans, all the attention that it’s received — it was expected. I’m just trying to go through it with a grain of salt but also keep my mind to the ground — or my feet to the ground and my mind level so that I can remain focused for Saturday night because I don’t want to get ahead of myself with thinking that, you know, I made it already, where I have a bigger task at hand come Saturday.”
On how he maintains his focus during all the fight week media obligations:
“Meditation is the key, brother. Meditation. Because boxing is a mental sport so if you can get mental strength, I think that comes from just mental training, which I get through meditation. It’s priceless. You know, I have a yoga instructor with me, following me around to kind of grasp everything and take control of my mind, and not only that but help me to envision the victory, which is most importantly because in order to do it you have to see it first.
“So all these different things that involve mental training I’ve been doing, not only just with the physical so I am well equipped for Saturday night.”
On if he still sees himself knocking out Canelo in their fight:
“I still envision that, absolutely. And I think it’s a strong possibility. I mean, you guys know that if I have a guy hurt I know how to get him out of there. I mean my record speaks for itself so I know how to go in there and get the job done. But Canelo Alvarez deserves respect because he’s a champion and his offensive onslaught is through the roof. I’ve always admitted that but I also just think I’m the better fighter and I can be better that night if I use my best attributes. I’m not going in there looking for the knockout — see that’s the difference.
“I understand that it’s a possibility for it to be, and I know that if I was to set it up the right way and get him hurt, wear him down, hurt him to the body, get him tired — because he already fights in spurts, right? So just being the best version of myself and even my best attributes will set a knockout up.”
On if he’s expecting a knockout in the second half of the fight once Canelo tires:
“I don’t know. I mean you can look back to the Peter Quillin fight. I thought that was gonna be a long, gruesome 12-round fight because he was a big, strong guy and people thought that I wouldn’t be able to take his power, but we seen it was a first-round knockout. So in boxing you just never know. But I envision all of these different things and different scenarios on how I can be victorious although by the end of the night I do know that I will be victorious.”