Danny Jacobs: From Golden Child to Miracle Man to 2012 Comeback Fighter of the Year

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Danny “Miracle Man” Jacobs hails to us from the harsh surroundings he was forced to overcome in Brooklyn, New York.  Danny grew up in Brownsville which has long been one of New York City’s most dangerous residential neighborhoods, so he was deemed to be a fighter. Jacobs then known as the “Golden Child” was on the fast ranks to being a world champion as one of Golden Boy Promotions’ brightest young stars.

His career was taking off at lightning speed in the Middleweight Division before having the rug pulled out from under him in a bout with an undefeated Russian Dmitry Pirog, whom has an unblemished record of 20-0, (15 KO’s), and is currently ranked #5 in the world.  At that time some analysts even considered this loss an upset.  Jacobs was sent to the canvas in round 5 and before long was stopped via TKO in the same round.

It didn’t take long at all for Jacobs to bounce back and was once again in full swing of yet another buoyant winning streak defeating his next two foes by KO, but in March of 2011 Danny Jacobs unknowingly was about to be battle tested like never before.  He was diagnosed with Osteorsarcoma, which is an aggressive cancer that manifested itself in a small golf ball sized tumor which was wrapped around his spine.  This tumor damaged Danny’s nerves and even caused partial paralysis in his legs.  A biopsy was completed which ensured that the tumor was cancerous and getting larger. 

Already not able to walk, an emergency surgery was performed to remove the cancerous tumor and he was told that his boxing career was rightfully over.  Jacobs fought as hard out of the ring as he ever did in. The surgery was a success and despite his Dr.’s advice within a month of that medical declaration Jacobs was back in the ring sparring.  Once upon a time Danny Jacobs had the boxing nickname of “The Golden Child” and now you see what motivated the name change to “Miracle Man”.

In 2012, Jacobs returned to the ring already a winner by surviving cancer. He stamped his 2012 by returning 2-0 with 2 victories coming via the stoppage variety. Both of his fights were in his home city of New York, one in the brand new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, for its first major boxing event, the other on the televised portion of the Miguel Cotto-Austin Trout card in Madison Square Garden.

Jacobs is slated to return in 2013 on another Barclays on the undercard of the Danny Garcia-Zab Judah undercard. Jacobs went from the Golden Child to the Miracle Man to the 2012 Comeback Fighter of the year.

 

Others Receiving Votes:

Alfredo Angulo: Angulo ended in 2011 with a loss to James Kirkland in an all action slugfest in Mexico. Angulo had not fought in the US since 2010. After the Kirkland fight, it almost seemed like Angulo seemingly disappeared. When this site asked his former promoter Gary Shaw how he felt that Angulo had left and switched promoters, Shaw responded by saying, “I don’t know what’s going on with Angulo, I hear he’s having immigration issues.” Little did we know that was true.

Angulo had disappeared, to an INS detention center for seven months. What was thought to his team as being a small issue with immigration that should have been resolved in a short amount of time turned into seven long months that even Angulo didn’t know when the end was coming.  The long legal process finally took its course and now Angulo is in the U.S. legally.

His 2012 was an all but two month,  two fight stint in November and December. Angulo went 2-0 with 1 excellent knockout. He is now working with well renowned trainer Virgil Hunter and he is also rumored to possibly fighting Canelo Alvarez in 2013. No matter what 2013 holds, one would hope it’s not as turbulent as 2012 and we see ‘El Perro’ in the ring doing what he does best.

 

Robert Guerrero: Guerrero had a pretty good 2012 considering what he had to comeback from. He returned from a year long lay-off due to injury and of course helping his wife Casey fight and beat Leukemia. He jumped up two weight classes from lightweight and soundly defeated two very credible welterweights in Selcuk Aydin and Andre Berto. Now while he might not be the comeback fighter of the year, he might get the biggest fight of his career should he land Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 4th.

 

Ricky Hatton: Hatton came back in 2012 after retiring in 2009 when he was knocked out by Manny Pacquiao. Since then Hatton had gone through the demons of drugs and alcohol. He decided to return in 2012. He had to shed plenty of weight and get back into fighting shape. He returned with no soft touches as he took on former welterweight title holder Vyacheslav Senchenko in Manchester. Hatton, still a major fan favorite sold out the place and like always the place was rocking for a Hatton fight. Unfortunately for the Manchester faithful and Hatton, he was dropped by a body shot in the 9th round that he never got up from. Hatton was up on the cards at the time of the stoppage and was emotional after the fight saying that he would retire. Hopefully he can stay away from the demons and become successful in his second part of his boxing life as a promoter.

 

Carl Froch: Froch returned from his 2011 loss to Andre Ward in the super six final in a major fashion. He took on IBF title holder Lucian Bute. Bute, who most felt was overrated and never left his home base of Montreal to fight, traveled to Nottingham to take on Froch in May of 2012.  Froch was on the attack from the opening bell, not giving Bute any chance of being in the fight. Bute got a standing 8 count in round 5, but from the onset of round 1, you could almost tell that this fight would end early. That it did as the fight was stopped in round 5. Carl then returned in November of 2012 with a 3 round destruction of Yusaf Mack. Froch has plenty of moves in 2013, whether it’s a rematch with Mikkel Kessler, Lucian Bute, or Andre Ward. A fight with power punching Adonis Stevenson might be in the works as well as he is Froch’s mandatory. The ‘Cobra” is a fighter’s fighter and we can’t wait to see him back in the ring.