Can the Miracle Man upset the Big Apple cart?

By Frank Warren

I am thrilled that, once more, we are able to deliver a genuine BoxNation biggie for our subscribers this weekend – one which can probably claim the billing of biggest fight of 2017 so far.

I also suspect when the winner’s arm is raised in New York our viewers may well have witnessed the fight of the year.

I just can’t see how Gennady Golovkin’s multi-belt middleweight collision with Daniel Jacobs at Madison Square Garden can fail to be a classic.

A vicious snowstorm has been causing havoc in the Big Apple all week but the blizzard now hovering over boxing’s Theatre of Dreams on Saturday night will be hot and torrid.

It is by far the most hazardous assignment of the all-conquering Kazakh’s spectacular career. On paper, it is one he should win but in the ring it is a potential banana skin.

The hammer-hitting Triple-G against the equally iron-fisted Miracle Man, who has beaten life-threatening illness to become one of boxing’s most powerful forces, hasn’t needed any trash talk or manufactured hype to attract what will be a packed house and a transfixed global audience of many millions.

Fans know they can simply sit back and enjoy the fistic firework fireworks once the first bell ignites the fuse.

Golovkin, the ever-smiling assassin, has the perfect record, stopping 33 of his 36 opponents far, the last 23 in succession.

Jacobs has beaten 29 out of 33 inside the distance, with only one defeat which came some seven years against the Russian hard man Dmitry Pirog.

Golovkin can’t afford to be knocked off course in his bid to secure all the belts and we would like an ultimate unification match with Billy Joe Saunders, whoever wins.

Gennady has said he covets Bill’s WBO status to complete the belt collection and it would be as massive fight – certainly one we would strive to get on over here this summer.

The original Beast from the East, now as popular in the US, where he resides, as he is in his native Kazakhstan has no qualms about crossing the Atlantic, as he demonstrated when he came to London to demolish Kell Brook.

He loves Britain – and the Brits – though he does seem to enjoy beating them up.

However Bill would present trickier and I believe more dangerous and durable opposition to the trio – Brook, Martin Murray and Matthew Macklin – who have bowed to him before. He has a great chin and a clever boxing brain.

Ask Chris Eubank jnr, who was curiously coy when invited to get in the ring with Golovkin.

You can be sure Bill won’t be. He’d leap at the opportunity.

But first Golovkin has to dispose of WBA champion Jacobs – and that won’t be easy.

The 30-year-old from Brooklyn has genuine class, astute ringcraft and, like Golovkin, a big-punching pedigree. It is the perfect pairing and one I can’t wait to watch.

Golovkin has even admitted Jacobs might hold the edge in the power stakes.

The 2010 blemish on the record of the now 30-year-old was followed by the discovery that he was suffering a rare form of bone cancer.

He underwent a series of operations and radiotherapy, but incredibly made his comeback just 17 months after the initial diagnosis with a first-round knockout of Josh Lutheran.

It is no surprise after such a harrowing episode that Jacobs insists he doesn’t scare easy.

Those planning on taking a punt will consider Jacobs as having a big puncher’s chance, but you have to factor in that Golovkin will respect that particular threat.

The last time he got in with some someone carrying a ferocious dig – against David Lemieux in October 2015 – he played it pretty safe and relied on a stiff and damaging jab to keep the Canadian at bay and eventually dismantled him in round eight.

It will be interesting to see if he employs similar tactics this time around.

If he doesn’t, then Jacobs has got some hope of upsetting the Big Apple cart.

Golovkin-Jacobs isn’t the only show in town this weekend, with the chief support act being of the highest calibre. Four-weight world champion Roman Gonzalez makes the first defence of his WBC super flyweight title against Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, bidding to extend his unbeaten sequence to 47-0.

Victory will bring him within two triumphs of you know who and, of course, the great Rocky Marciano.

Some shrewd observers suggest ‘Chocolatito’ won’t have it all his own way by any stretch against the well-seasoned Thai, who is a renowned body puncher.

If he is going to get to 49 not out, then Gonzalez is going to do it tough because next on the list appears to be a rematch with Carlos Cuadras before a possible super fight against Japan’s unbeaten Naoya Inoue.

Cuadras is also on the card at the Garden, along with Andy Lee, who meets Alabama’s KeAndrae Leatherwood in his first bout since Billy Joe relieved him of his WBO belt 15 months ago -making this show one BoxNation viewers won’t want to miss a moment of.

Put the coffee on!

Coverage from New York begins at 1am, live and exclusive on BoxNation