Former two-time middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs believes he can get a shot at the 168-pound title if he beats Shane Mosley Jr. this Saturday night. The Jacobs-Mosley Jr. bout will be a 10-round bout at the Toyota Center in Anaheim, California.
Is Jacobs considering a rematch with Canelo?
The 37-year-old Jacobs (37-4, 30 KOs) has not said who he plans to fight for the super middleweight world title, but the only champion to hold all of the belts is Canelo Alvarez.
In other words, Jacobs wants a rematch with Canelo, whom he lost to by a 12-round unanimous decision on May 4, 2019. Jacobs made millions from his bout with Canelo, but has only fought three times since then.
Jacobs's decline in importance
It has been four years since Jacobs last won a 12-round split decision over journeyman Gabriel Rosado on Nov. 27, 2020. It has been so long since the win that younger fans don't know who Jacobs is at this point in his career.
Mosley Jr. (21-4, 12 KOs) is not ranked in the top 15 by any of the four super middleweight sanctioning organizations, and Jacobs is not going to get a higher ranking from any of them for beating the 33-year-old Mosley Jr. Jacobs needs to be realistic about what he gains from beating Mosley Jr., and that's nothing.
Furthermore, Canelo isn't going to voluntarily put an older fighter like the 37-year-old Jacobs into a title fight because he wouldn't sell. Jacobs has been out of action for years, not beating a high-caliber opponent since a tough 12-round split decision win over Sergey Derevyanchenko on Oct. 27, 2018.
It'll be like the Mesozoic era, 66 million years ago, when the dinosaurs were around, because young boxing fans will never have heard of Jacobs and will never see him and Mosley Jr. fight.
“I'm facing a young, hungry guy again who I think could be a future champion,” Jacobs said of Shane Mosley Jr. “He's on a long winning streak and had a very impressive fight against Gabe Rosado. So if I go out there and fight really well, maybe even get a knockout, I'll be in that position again, because my ultimate goal is to become a champion in another weight class and become a three-time overall champion.”
A shortcut to winning the title?
Well, if Jacobs wants a chance at a world title fight with Canelo, he’ll need to take a shortcut by naming David Benavidez, Christian Mbili, David Morel, Diego Pacheco or Caleb Plant.
A win over one of those fighters would put Jacobs in a better position to challenge Canelo for a rematch, but it's unlikely he'll be able to hold his own against any of those fighters. Jacobs last fought John Ryder two years ago on Feb. 12, 2022, losing a 12-round split decision.
Even if Jacobs were to finish higher in the rankings, Canelo would ignore him because he's not popular enough for their fight to sell, and Jacobs has been out of the ring for so many years that he's unlikely to make up for lost time.
