Danny “Miracle Man” Jacobs resumes his freshly established career on Saturday, December 1, 2012 at the focal point and Mecca of Boxing in New York City, Madison Square Garden. 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. Danny Jacobs has a virtuous yet noble record of 23-1, (20 KO’s). Jacobs will be facing yet another young and very ambitious opponent in Chris “The Irish Ghost” Fitzpatrick, fighting out of Cleveland, Ohio with an also respectable record of 15-2, (6 KO’s). Fitzpatrick is enthused to say the least to take another step up the proverbial ladder in facing one of the top middle weight prospects. He’s taking on a fighter who gives us one of boxing’s most recent uplifting and touching come back stories, in Danny “Miracle Man” Jacobs, whose nickname is as fitting as Don King’s million dollar dentures.
This fight will be held at the Middleweight Division on the undercard of the well anticipated Junior Middleweight bout between Miguel Cotto and undefeated title holder Austin Trout. Golden Boy Promotions and Cotto are working together to co-promote this event. Danny Jacobs is an immaculate and highly decorated amateur boxer with the impressive record of 137-7. This bout shouldn’t have much of a negative effect on Jacobs for this will not be the first time he has fought on such an elaborate stage.
Jacob’s made his professional debut on December 8, 2007 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, amid Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. Ricky “The Hit Man” Hatton. Can you imagine the butterflies that must have been fluttering in the stomach of a fighter making his pro debut on such a world- wide viewed event in which thousands of Englishman were singing the lyrics to” Blue Moon” at the top of their lungs? I couldn’t imagine.
During that fight Jacobs not only defeated but destroyed Jose Jesus Hurtado in 29 seconds of the opening round via TKO. 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 analyst 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 with- in 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”.
I personally can’t wait to see the next chapter of the Danny Jacobs story. I admire and respect a person with such inner strength and the never give up attitude with the boxing skills he possess and those real-life attributes he occupies. I don’t see how Chris Fitzpatrick will be able to derail Jacobs the way Pirog did. Fitzpatrick is a boxer-puncher, and being the smaller fighter will most definitely do everything in his ability to make it an awkward and brutal fight. But with Jacobs renewed resolve and purpose with more contemporary defensive skills, it will be extremely problematic for Fitzpatrick to hurt Jacobs, or even uniform a truly detrimental offense at all. On the other hand Jacobs has the know-how, very potent straight right hand, and has displayed intense body punching that in my opinion will make “The Irish Ghost” exactly that, a ghost.
