PBC on Spike: Daniel Jacobs vs. Sergio Mora 2

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    Daniel Jacobs, 31-1 with 28 KO’s, is re-matching supposed rival Sergio Mora, 28-4-2 with 9 KO’s, on Spike TV Friday 9pm E.S.T., September 9th at the Santander Arena in Reading, PA. This fight on multiple levels doesn’t make sense.

    Daniel Jacobs is coming off a spectacular 1st round KO over a credible top 5 middleweight in Peter Quillin in front of a huge crowd at the Barclays Center, Brooklyn, a “home-town” for Jacobs. The win was a career-changing win, yet, he’s now headlining against a man he recently defeated in a smaller arena, two hours away from the Barclay’s. If the PBC and Al Haymon were looking to promote a potential star in Jacobs, then they are failing or misguided.

    Daniel Jacobs vs Peter QuillinHowever, Jacobs attests this fight is personal for him, per a press release from the PBC, “This is business for me, but it is also more personal than any fight I have ever had. Sergio has been using these antics online to get this rematch and he has gotten under my skin. There has been a lot of back and forth as far as people’s opinions as to who would have won the fight had he not gotten hurt. I am looking at this as an opportunity to clarify that I am the real champion. I want to shut his trap in primetime.” Jacobs, a self-described businessman, at least is doing his part to hype the fight. Addressing the injury from the first fight that clearly stop Mora from continuing was savvy promotion.

    Mora himself had some words to say about Jacobs and the rematch, “I don’t think Jacobs wanted this rematch, but it was destined to happen and now he has to deal with it. I thought the first fight was going my way. I knocked him down in the first round and was out boxing him in the second round. He knows that I have enough power to hurt him. He has more to worry about going into this fight than in the first fight. Look at my resume, I have fought solid opposition. Jacobs doesn’t have that type of resume.”

    The first fight was quite exciting before the unfortunate injury. Mora was giving Jacobs odd looks through the first minute and a half. He would even plant his back leg over his front leg to throw a right hook, something that is technically not sound. Jacobs then landed a hard right hook after Mora leaned to his left to throw a left uppercut to the body. Mora rose to his feet and appeared to have already shaken off the knockdown. Jacobs though sensed blood in the water and was chasing Mora down, but was too wide in his approach. Mora landed a monstrous left hook as Jacobs was lunging in knocking him down. Both men proceeded to trade blows for the next 45 seconds of the roundSergio Mora.

    The second round was a continuation of the first with Jacobs pressuring Mora looking to land power shots, while Mora tried to evade and set up his power shots with jabs and feints. Jacobs landed a hard blow that sent Mora down, but on the way down, seemed to have injured his knee. The fight was called and the rest is history.

    Can Mora prove that the Jacobs loss was a fluke based on that injury? Perhaps, this is boxing after all. However, Mora has never been a power puncher and a knockout artist. Mora has a 26% knockout rate while Jacobs has an 88% knockout rate. So Mora would have to outbox Jacobs for 12 hard rounds. Mora, whose style is predicated on herky-jerky, awkward movement, is coming back from a serious injury that may dampen his ability to execute that style. Mora is tough and has only been stopped once in his whole career, so Jacobs can’t come in wild. Jacobs will have to go to the body and use his jab effectively to set up his better power shots. Jacobs also has an issue with being on the centerline going backward and lunging forward. If Jacobs can set-up his shots, not head hunt, and go to the body religiously, he should be able to beat a lesser version of Sergio Mora within the distance.