Daniel Jacobs is not distracted by the bad blood between him and Gabriel Rosado ahead of their fight.
Rosado has had plenty to say about his opponent, something he puts down to the perceived disrespect shown to him in the build-up to the fight, but Jacobs is unconcerned.
Of the pre-match chatter, Jacobs told DAZN's Todd Grisham: “I think it’s awesome, it’s good for boxing. I love boxing so much I know it makes for a great show.”
The 33-year-old Brooklyn fighter remains confident that he will emerge victorious, but was not prepared to predict how the win would come about.
“I can’t predict, but I do see my hand being raised at the end of the day. How we get there, I don’t know. I’ve predicted fights before exactly how I’ve wanted it to go, but you can next predict,” he said.
“It’s the mindset of kill and not be killed.”
To that end, Jacobs is aiming to put the tie to bed with a stoppage.
“No fighter likes to be in there longer than he has to. A knockout is key for everybody. I want him to learn his lesson: my skillset, me hitting him, him not hitting me, me dropping him several times.
“I don’t know how it’s going to play out but I want to see blood and do damage, but I want us to be safe and healthy when this fight is over.”
Jacobs explained that he is targeting a knockout because in his past experience, such as being dropped by Sergio Mora in 2016 on the way to his victory, a win is never guaranteed.
“This is boxing. The right shot can make any fighter go down. You can ask Manny Pacquiao, Roy Jones, Mike Tyson.
“All these guys hit the canvas. How great they are is because of how they got up and what they did after. [The knockdown by Mora] was valuable for me: to knock a guy down and be sure that I’m going to finish the job, but be humble because I’ll be cautious and take my time.”
He reiterated his commitment to avoid the drama that comes before the match, saying he did not want emotion to weigh too heavily on him in the ring.
Jacobs said: “I think a smart fighter knows how to get a certain balance. If you’re a fighter that gets the motivation to go in with a hot head, then kudos to you but I like a level of balance.
“When the bell rings I execute my game plan. I want to see him battered and hurt but at the same time it won’t deter me from my game plan.”
The two-time middleweight champion is already looking past Rosado, suggesting that he took this fight merely to get back into focus after lockdown.
“To me, I’m looking at him as the perfect tune-up,” he said.
“Even though he’s a fighter I have to somewhat respect, this is a tune-up fight to get quarantine out of my system, then look for those title belts and the super middleweight kings of the division.”
He has two fighters in mind next: “It would be Billy Joe Saunders or Jermall Charlo. I have Charlo in my sights. Saunders is a dog at super middleweight.
“The success I had at middleweight, I can come to the super middleweight division and still have opportunities where I can fight the top tiers of the division, and the world champions.”