Hours after they served boxing garbage in Cebu City on Saturday night—two straying Indonesian vendors falling one after the other inside two minutes—the boxing world was treated to a battle-royale at Madison Square Garden in New York.
It may not be the gold of golds, but Daniel Jacobs, 30, a cancer survivor, made it solidly as a new hero, a dangerous and explosive star, in taking the dreaded punching machine Gennady Golovkin of Kazakhstan all the way to the 12th round.
Golovkin, unbeaten and going for a 24th straight stoppage, was awarded with a close and questioned unanimous decision, but it would not be fair to say that Jacobs had lost.
For one, the Brooklyn native called the Miracle Man clearly won the night, together with a horde of fans, including New York natives who showed up at ringside to cheer for Golovkin, but went home swooning over Jacobs, the newest American prizefight darling.
Jacobs may not have been awarded the victory, which many felt should’ve rightfully been his, but in out-witting the power-slugging Golovkin, he succeeded in exposing that the Kazakh boxing god was not truly invincible.
Too bad that Jacobs may not get a well-deserved immediate rematch, with Golovkin most likely taking on Billy Joe Saunders or Canelo Alvarez next.
However, the boxing world can hardly wait to see Jacobs, new addition to the boxing elite, in action again.
In the undercard to the Jacobs-Golovkin stellar card, the fabulous Roman “Chocolotito” Gonzalez of Nicaragua fell in the first round and had to bang it up badly bloodied by repeated head-butts, to suffer his first defeat in 47 bouts. He was upset by Sriraksaket Sor Rungsival, a former garbage picker who instantly rose to stardom after eking out a controversial majority decision.
Out in Cebu City, a few hours before the glowing battles in New York, fight fans were shamelessly served prizefight garbage in the Omega Pro Sports International “Who’s Next?” presentation at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino.
Jack Tepora and Christian Araneta, both unbeaten, were fed defenseless super patsies from Indonesia who were swept one after the other in the first round.
Based on the horrible disparity in the records of the two unbeaten Filipinos and the hapless Indons, the bouts should have been disallowed.
It was so foul and hideous boxing authorities, led by the Games and Amusements Board, should be put to task for sanctioning the garbage bouts. There’s an outcry for the do-nothing GAB Boxing Division to be revamped or abolished outright.