Is Daniel Jacobs The Forgotten Middleweight?

Is Daniel Jacobs the forgotten middleweight? – Last December 5th, Daniel Jacobs knocked out Peter Quillin in 85 seconds at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. The fight was for Jacobs’ WBA world title at 160 pounds, and it was the main event that aired on Showtime.

Before the fight Quillin (32-0-1) was by far the more vocal of the two fighters, and Jacobs appeared to win a lot of points by taking care of his business in the ring. He is still ranked #2 in the division by the respected TBRB.org site.

Just two weeks later, on December 19th, Jacobs was a guest in Manchester, England for the Andy Lee vs Billy Joe Saunders WBO world title fight at middleweight. Jacobs was there to call out the winner, and Lee entered the fight a slight favorite. Lee had fought Quillin to a draw in the United States in his previous title defense, and a win by Lee almost assured we would see Jacobs versus Lee in a WBO and WBA title unification bout. Well, Saunders won the bout and the belt, and Saunders has not worked with Showtime or fought outside of his comfort zone, so the potential challenge from Jacobs was not in the cards.

After closing out 2015 in memorable fashion, Jacobs has watched month after month go by and with each passing day, he becomes more and more anonymous.

Is Daniel Jacobs The Forgotten Middleweight?

Now word is that Daniel Jacobs (31-1) will return to action on July 30th at the Barclays Center. His opponent is yet to be named, and he is serving as the warm-up feature for a main event of Leo Santa Cruz vs Carl Frampton. Wasn’t he headlining the Barclays Center in December? Isn’t he from Brooklyn, while Santa Cruz is from the left coast and Frampton from across the pond?

It will be interesting to see who the opponent is when announced. The chances that an important match-up will be made now with less than a month to go before the fight are small.

And here is where boxing and all its ugly politics come into play. The #1 in the world at 160 pounds is Gennady Golovkin, and some of the words he has learned in English include “I want all the belts.” Unfortunately for everybody involved, Golovkin is an HBO fighter and Jacobs is on Showtime so that fight is supposedly “never going to happen.”

It does however seem as if the weight class is bereft of serious opponents, especially stateside. While not official all indications are that Golovkin will be fighting in England against Chris Eubank Jr.

Which brings up the question, after July 30th’s TBA, who will Jacobs fight next? Or will he continue to be forgotten in what is supposed to be one of boxing’s glamour weight classes?

Is Daniel Jacobs The Forgotten Middleweight?