Daniel Jacobs vs. John Ryder: Zero Hour Here & Now

By Chris Carlson - 02/11/2022 - Comments

The time has come for one of these two boxers to win or go home in the sense of getting big fights. Daniel Jacobs has faced the bigger names by far having shared the ring with Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin. The best two names for John Ryder are two close losses to Billy Joe Saunders and Callum Smith. There were plenty of folks especially from the U.K. that thought Ryder had done enough to get his hand raised against Callum Smith. Since that loss Ryder has two non-descript victories over Mike Guy and Jozef Jurko. Many fans and boxing experts thought Daniel Jacobs fought Golovkin close enough to earn a rematch whereas his loss to Canelo was clear cut.

When Danny steps into the ring on Saturday versus John Ryder which will be broadcasted by DAZN, it’s literally zero hour for both. This will be Jacobs’s third bout since May of 2019 which is a few months short of 3 years. After losing to Canelo Jacobs looked very mediocre in his win over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. If that wasn’t bad enough, his effort (non-effort) in a questionable victory over Gabriel Rosado was frankly piss-poor. The motivation after making so much money with Canelo and the 3-fight DAZN deal seems to missing in a major way. If Danny brings that same non-energy to the ring John Ryder will win this fight. Let’s face it the fight is not in America so even if it’s a very close affair it will likely result in a loss for Danny or at the very least a draw.

With the style-clash of these two guys don’t be surprised if this thing takes at least a few rounds to combust. Honestly it could be a tit-for-tat; one or two punches at a time type of fight that resides mostly in the middle of the ring. If that’s the case look for Danny’s jab and body punching to be enough to get him the ‘W’. Of course that’s if Jacobs, who’s back with his former trainer Andre Rozier is all the way motivated. If so Jacobs will look to apply pressure at some point but may be content to just stand his ground and use slight movement at range for large portions of the rounds. Daniel is the more skilled fighter and the harder puncher but not much of that has really shown since moving up to 168.

Ryder will have to bringing the pressure early and often in order to not make the same mistake of being overly tentative as he did with Callum Smith. Ryder uses a high guard so Jacobs should be able to exploit to the body. John has a decent jab and quick hands, once his gets all the way inside he does a good job of throwing snappy short body punches. If Ryder can up his punch activity a bit and keep Jacobs cornered or directly on the ropes as much as possible, he will be the winner. The problem is beyond Ryder being too patient he also tends to follow his opponent around instead of cutting off the ring and placing his head in Jacobs chest.

This boxing podcaster believes will see a re-energized Daniel Jacobs to an extent anyways enough to get this win on the road. If Jacobs looks to engage backing up Ryder to take him out of his comfort zone we will get a bunch of two-way action that at some point will turn to more one-sided in favor of ‘The Miracle Man’. A slow start turns into a decent to solid ‘TV’ fight as both men attempt to stay on the path to a major payday and/or name.

My Official Prediction is Daniel Jacobs by Majority-Decision.

 Written by Chris Carlson Host/Producer of The Rope A Dope Radio Podcast Available at www.blogtalkradio.com/ropeadoperadio & TheGruelingTruth.Com Follow on Twitter @RopeADopeRadio