Daniel Jacobs (boxer)

Early life

Jacobs was born and raised in the Brooklyn residential neighborhood of Brownsville. He was raised by his mother, Yvette Jacobs, his grandmother, Cordelia Jacobs, and his aunts. Jacobs graduated from Erasmus High School.

Amateur career

As an amateur boxer, Jacobs recorded 137 wins and 7 losses. In 2003, Jacobs won the Junior Olympics national championship. In 2004, Jacobs won the United States national champion in the 19–and–under division, a PAL national championship, and a National Golden Gloves welterweight championship. In 2005, he won his second PAL national championship and also won the National Golden Gloves middleweight championship. In 2006, Jacobs won the United States Amateur middleweight championship. During his amateur career, Jacobs won four New York Golden Gloves championships.

Early fights

Jacobs made his professional boxing debut on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Ricky Hatton, which took place on December 8, 2007, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. In that fight, he defeated Jose Jesus Hurtado by first round technical knockout in just 29 seconds. In his second professional fight, Jacobs fought Hector Lopez on January 25, 2008, at Cicero Stadium in Cicero, Illinois. Jacobs defeated him with a first round knockout after a left hook to the body sent Lopez down for the count. In his third bout, he faced Alexander Volkov on February 16, 2008. Jacobs won by technical knockout in the second round, knocking Volkov down three times before the bout was called to a halt. On March 22, 2008, at the Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa in Cabazon, California, Jacobs defeated Matt Palmer by first-round technical knockout. Palmer went down twice before the referee stopped the fight.

On April 19, 2008, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Jacobs fought Leshon Sims. Jacobs knocked Sims down in rounds three and four en route to a fourth-round technical knockout victory. On May 3, 2008, Jacobs fought Jose Pena at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Pena was knocked down after taking a left hand to the body followed immediately by a left hook to the head. He got to his feet, but Jacobs immediately went after him with a right hand to the head, backing him up to his corner, where Jacobs landed a two-punch combination to the head that dropped Pena to the canvas for the second time. After the second knockdown, the fight was stopped due to Pena being too badly hurt to continue fighting. On July 4, 2008, Jacobs defeated Julio Perez by first-round technical knockout at the Dodge Arena in Hidalgo, Texas. Jacobs hurt Perez several times in the first round, sending him from one side of the ring to the other while taking unanswered punches to the head. After landing a four-punch combination that sent Perez to the ropes, the referee moved in and halted the fight.

Jacobs defeated Sergio Rios by knockout in the first round in a bout that took place on July 23, 2008, at the Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa in Cabazon, California. Jacobs used an assortment of punches to the body before landing a right hand that sent Rios down to the canvas. Rios was unable to continue and the bout was halted. In his ninth professional fight, Jacobs defeated Ramon Espinoza with a technical knockout in just 57 seconds at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on September 13, 2008. Fourteen days later, Jacobs fought Emmanuel Gonzalez at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. In the second round, Jacobs put Gonzalez down to the canvas with a three-punch combination. Three rounds later, Jacobs scored another knockdown, but he had to go the full distance for the first time in his professional career. Jacobs won by unanimous decision with scores of 60–52, 59–54, and 59–53 from the judges.

On October 18, 2008, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Jacobs defeated Tyrone Watson by knockout in the first round. With a minute remaining in the opening round, Jacobs knocked Watson down with a right hand. Watson got up, but Jacobs landed a left hook to Watson's ribs for the knockout. Jacobs' next fight took place on November 8, 2008, at Madison Square Garden in New York City against Jimmy Campbell. In the third round, Jacobs knocked Campbell down with a right hand. He made it up badly hurt, and Jacobs threw a flurry of punches which resulted in the referee stopping the fight. Jacobs defeated Victor Lares by second-round technical knockout on December 6, 2008, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. In round two, Jacobs knocked Lares down with a right hand. Lares quickly got up but the referee stopped the fight because Lares was too hurt to continue fighting.

On February 28, 2009, Jacobs defeated Jose Cruz by first-round knockout at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas with a flurry of punches. Two months later, Jacobs fought Jose Varela at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago. In the second round, Jacobs knocked out Varela with a right hand that sent him crashing to the canvas and never threatened to beat the ten count. On April 27, 2009, Jacobs agreed to replace junior middleweight James Kirkland, who was arrested on a gun charge, to fight Mike Walker, who was coming off a victory over two-time world title challenger Antwun Echols. The fight took place on May 2, 2009, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and Jacobs won by unanimous decision with scores of 80–72 from two judges and 79–73 from the other. One month later, he defeated George Walton by eight round technical knockout On August 22, 2009, Jacobs defeated Ishe Smith by unanimous decision to win the NABO middleweight title.

WBO middleweight title challenge and first loss

After 2 more bouts, on July 31, 2010, Jacobs faced undefeated Russian Dmitry Pirog for the vacant WBO Middleweight Championship. Jacobs was up on the cards when he was caught with a massive right hand against the ropes and knocked out in the 5th round. Handing him his first career loss.

Return after cancer treatment

On October 20, 2012, having fully recovered from cancer, Jacobs made a successful return to professional boxing with a first-round knockout victory over Josh Luteran.

ESPN.com reported that the scheduled February 9, 2013 bout between Danny Garcia and Zab Judah at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York was moved to April 27, 2013 because of a rib injury sustained by Garcia. With Danny Jacobs penciled in on the undercard fight for this event, his confrontation against Billy Lyell will now move to April 27 as well.

On August 19, 2013, Jacobs captured the WBC Continental Americas middleweight title via third-round knockout of Giovanni Lorenzo during the premiere of Golden Boy Live! on Fox Sports 1.

On August 9, 2014, Jacobs won the Vacant WBA (Regular) Middleweight Title with a 5th-round TKO over Jarrod Fletcher at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Jacobs vs. Quillin, Golovkin

On December 5, 2015 Jacobs scored his biggest win against Peter Quillin by TKO in the first round. Jacobs landed a lead right hand that caught Quillin flush on the temple and heavily rocked him, Jacobs then attempted to finish the fight landing non stop hard combinations the whole round. Jacobs landed another big punch that saw Quillin staggering over to the ropes, the referee saw that Quillin's eyes were highly disorientated and waved the fight off with no complaint from Quillin. Many including Floyd Mayweather felt that the fight was halted too early.

On March 18, 2017, Jacobs faced WBC/WBA "super"/IBF/IBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin at Madison Square Garden in the biggest fight of his career. The fight went the full 12 rounds, with Jacobs boxing and moving to some success. Jacobs was knocked down in the 4th round but recovered. However, Golovkin's constant pressure and effective jab led to a 115–112, 115–112, 114–113 unanimous decision victory for the 34-year-old Golovkin.

Personal life

In May 2011, Jacobs was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a life-threatening form of bone cancer. After receiving successful treatment at NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital he returned to the ring.