Gennadiy Golovkin was on an absolute tear through the middleweight division. The then-undefeated unified world middleweight champion was sitting at 36-0, having bulldozed his way through 17 straight title defenses — all by knockout — when he met Daniel Jacobs at Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 18, 2017. And just like that, GGG ran into a game warrior who gave him his best challenge to date at the time. Golovkin survived the test and won by unanimous decision, but it wasn't easy, as many boxing pundits and fans alike actually thought Jacobs did enough to get the nod himself. That being said, DAZN News looks back on Gennadiy Golovkin vs. Daniel Jacobs.
How GGG vs. Daniel Jacobs came together
Gennadiy Golovkin had ran through Kell Brook with a devastating fifth-round TKO back in September 2016, when the chatter to unify WBA titles with Daniel Jacobs arose. Jacobs had blasted Sergio Mora with a seventh-round TKO in September as well. The bout made sense considering that GGG was the owner of the WBA (Super), WBC and IBF world middleweight titles and Jacobs was the WBA (Regular) titleholder.
The winner of this bout could try to further unify against then-WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders. So, GGG vs. Jacobs was made, with Madison Square Garden — the Mecca of Boxing — set as the destination. Golovkin's then-trainer Abel Sanchez pointed out how both GGG and Jacobs touted a knockout ratio of over 90 percent at the time, predicting that this bout would end in a KO as well. Boy, was he wrong.
March 18, 2017: GGG vs. Jacobs
"The Miracle Man" took it to the juggernaut of the middleweight division through the first three rounds, outboxing Golovkin and setting an early tone. However, during the fourth round, GGG showed why he's such a force, as he dropped Jacobs with a solid right hand. After scoring the knockdown, Golovkin began to get comfortable and really sit on his punches to take control of the fight over the fifth and sixth rounds.
But the Brooklyn-bred Jacobs wasn't going to simply allow GGG to overwhelm him. He dug deep and went on the offensive to take the seventh and eighth rounds and make things all the more intriguing. Already, Jacobs had taken Golovkin past his comfort zone, considering the Kazakh fighter's previous decisions were eight-round bouts.
Toward the waning seconds of the ninth round, Golovkin split Jacobs' guard for a blistering right uppercut and then added a right hook for good measure. He seemingly dazed Jacobs next with a left hook to the temple and battered him with punches, including a stiff jab with the Brooklyn fighter up against the ropes.
Both warriors traded firepower in what were close, quality 10th, 11th and 12th rounds until the final bell, with Jacobs doing enough to edge GGG in the 10th and 11th, but Golovkin snatching the 12th. Final CompuBox stats had it 38 percent of punches landed for Golovkin to Jacobs' 32 percent in the nip-and-tuck clash.
At the end, judges scored it 115-112, 115-112 and 114-113 all in the favor of Golovkin.
The Aftermath
Golovkin had nothing but praise for Jacobs following their hard-fought bout — the first 12-round fight of GGG's pro career.
"I respect Daniel Jacobs, and he did a very good job and clean job," Golovkin told ESPN. "Daniel Jacobs is my favorite fighter — quality, very good fighter after I knocked him down. I respect his team."
Jacobs, on the other hand, thought he was robbed of the victory on the scorecards just because the boxing world yearned for GGG to fight Canelo Alvarez that much.
"I think I won the fight, and I think the fans support me," Jacobs told ESPN. "I think I won by two rounds at least. They want the big fight (Golovkin against Alvarez), and Daniel Jacobs got X'd out. I won the fight, and I won the decision, and all I can do is be gracious in the decision."
For what it's worth, Golovkin's very next fight was indeed against Canelo roughly six months later.