Canelo Alvarez v Daniel Jacobs – 3 belt unification, Cinco de Mayo weekend, Las Vegas. It has all the makings of a classic. So let’s celebrate it.

Canelo Alvarez v Gennady Golovkin was for many, the most hotly anticipated match-up in world boxing. After an action-packed fight in September 2017, controversy reigned supreme and a rematch was demanded. Second time around, it was like the first time never ended.

But once again it was the scorecards that were the talking point. Many felt that after 24 rounds of boxing, for GGG to have won on only one scorecard is something of a scandal. Well it was.

Cries of corruption were pure slander, but it was becoming evidently clear that an ageing Golovkin was edging ever further from having a fair shot at beating his man.

With this in mind, it was unsurprising that negotiations for a trilogy never got off of the ground. Canelo had to find a man willing to believe he can do what nobody had done before, and knock him out.

Rocky Fielding tried and failed, and Canelo subsequently won a world title in a 3rd different weight class. However, it is the middleweight division where the big fights are at.

Bring in, Daniel Jacobs.

The ‘Miracle Man’, and current IBF champion, may just be Canelo’s hardest fight yet.

The vanished Dmitry Pirog is the one indisputable blemish on a record spanning over 37 fights.

But that was a different Jacobs. Since then, his 8 year record has consisted of rebuilding, winning the WBA world title and making 4 successful defences before losing by unanimous decision in a unification to the aforementioned Gennady Golovkin; to which many argue he did at least enough to deserve a draw.

Jacobs stock rose after his performance against Golovkin, and DAZN had found an ideal character to build a successful platform for on their new streaming service.

Since then, his 3 fights have led him to a vacant world title, and a shot at the sport’s biggest star.

At just 31, Danny Jacobs has survived cancer, won two world titles and put Brooklyn back on the boxing map.

Jacobs doesn’t just have a great story and personality though, but an arsenal of elite boxing skills.

Aside from GGG, he will be one of the hardest punchers that Canelo will have stepped inside the ring with.

Jacobs won’t want to use this to push Canelo back, he’ll want to make him stand and trade, simply because Canelo is one of the best back-foot counter-punchers in the game.

That’s not to say the Mexican can’t take a shot.

Another weapon in the Jacobs armoury, is his speed. Combined with his reach and height advantage over Canelo, this is a reason as to why Jacobs has many backers, including a certain Roy Jones Jr.

Jones isn’t the only one who believes Jacobs has what it takes to do the near impossible, in fact, some bookmakers have the Miracle Man at shorter odds than GGG the second time round.

One thing we do know, is that the New Yorker will not be one to let this opportunity pass lightly.

There is no doubt Jacobs can mix it at elite level; but this is Canelo, and this is a once in a generation type of elite.

Oscar Bevis