Eddie Hearn says he had last Saturday night’s WBA super middleweight title eliminator between Daniel Jacobs and John Ryder scored a draw at 6-6 at the Alexandra Palace, London, England. The judges scored it 115-113, 115-113 for Ryder, and 115-113 for Jacobs.
All the clinching & moving that Jacobs hurt his cause, as he was spoiling all night, particularly in the second half of the fight. The referee gave Jacobs a break by not warning him for his nonstop clinching because it was excessive, spoiling the entertainment value of the battle.
Hearn wasn’t surprised that the judge gave Ryder (31-5, 17 KOs) a 12 round split decision victory, as he was the one that had taken over the contest in the last six rounds.
The crowd was going crazy each time Ryder, 33, would land a shot, and Hearn believes that factored in the judges’ decision to score the fight the way they did.
Jacobs (37-4, 30 KOs) looked great in the first half of the contest, almost as good as he had in his narrow decision losses to Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin.
However, Jacobs had nothing left in the tank from the seventh round on, showing little energy and being worked over by Ryder each time he stopped moving.
Jacobs-Ryder could have gone either way
“He [Ryder] said, ‘I’ve been on the backend of some tight decisions,’ and it was another tight decision tonight,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV on John Ryder’s 12 round split decision victory over Daniel Jacobs.
“It was a fight that could have gone either way. I thought the first six rounds, I thought, weren’t all that exciting,” said Hearn on the lack of action in the first half of the Jacobs – Ryder fight.
The fight could have been a draw, but Ryder looked like the better fighter at the end. When you have a contest in which one guy is spoiling the way Jacobs was in the entire second half of the fight, it’s normal for the judges to give it to the guy who is working hard, pushing the pace.
It’s unclear whether Jacobs’ game plan was to hold & run the entire fight, but it was a poor one. Jacobs didn’t fight this way earlier in his career, and, strangely, he would adopt that approach in Ryder’s backyard in London.
If that’s the game plan that Jacobs’ trainer Andre Rozier came up with, he should consider dumping him. Jacobs wasn’t facing a big puncher in Ryder and should have been able to stand his ground and unload with his big power shots.
“There was a lot of posturing going on, and I thought John Ryder won the back end of the fight,” said Hearn. “He was the one forcing the pressure. I thought he hurt Daniel Jacobs in the ninth or tenth round.
“Jacobs came back, but it was a very close, close fight that could have gone either way. It was very, very close, and coming through the ninth round, you really feel that he [Ryder] could have gone on and forced a stoppage in the fight.
“Jacobs is a cute fighter, he’s very clever, and actually he sort of took the pace down [in the second half of the fight] and started to change the way he was fighting. I think he was hurt and tired in the fight as well,” Hearn said.
Earlier in Jacobs’ career, he was a seek & destroy knockout artist, but he’s evolved into a pure spoiler since losing to Dmitry Pirog by a fifth round knockout in July 2010.
Jacobs could have won in the U.S.
“If it’s that kind of fight in the U.S, maybe Jacobs wins it by a round, and then over here [UK], Ryder wins it by a round. I felt that the pressure and the noise were coming from John Ryder, particularly, of course, in the backend of the fight,” said Hearn.
“It’s not the way a judge scores a fight; it’s the noise, it’s the momentum.
“Sometimes a punch can land, and the people go mad. It has nothing to do with the judges. It’s the noise and the momentum of the fight, and I felt, of course, the momentum in the back half was very much skewed towards John Ryder, but it was a fight that could have gone either way.
“I don’t think he [Ryder] was six down, but certainly 4-2 going into the backend of the fight. He needed to do more, and he did do more. He started to let his hands go more, and he hurt Daniel Jacobs. It was interesting to see the fight change, and it became a really good fight in the back six.
“Again, it was a fight that could have gone either way. Sometimes people aren’t happy either way. What I’ve seen online is slightly more people had Danny winning the fight. I don’t know. I have to look at it, but I felt at the end of it, it was six apiece, and John got the victory,” said Hearn.
Jacobs probably would have won the fight had the match taken place in the U.S, but it still wouldn’t guarantee his chances of winning a world title.
Right now, Jacobs would stand no chance of beating WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight champion David Morrell Jr. (6-0, 5 KOs). That Cuban talent is way too good for Jacobs, and it would have been a mismatch.
Canelo is unlikely to fight Ryder
“Look, it’s a lovely story, isn’t it?” said Hearn on the possibility of Canelo Alvarez fighting the winner of the Jacobs vs. Ryder fight. “If Canelo Alvarez were to fight in the UK, John Ryder is probably the pick, to be honest with you.
“At super middleweight, he just won a world title eliminator, and he’s beaten Danny Jacobs. But Canelo obviously has business to take care of over the next six to nine months, and we’ll see what happens with those super middleweight championships.
Is this the end for Daniel Jacobs?
“He’s a tremendous fighter. I just feel that Danny has achieved so much,” said Hearn on whether Jacobs is done as a fighter at 35. “What is there left to achieve? He’s not going to jump in and fight for the world championship now. What do you look to do?
“He’ll probably kick himself as well. I think John would have kicked himself if he didn’t get the decision. They’re both probably could have done a little bit more.
“I’m sure Danny will speak with Keith Connolly and see what the future holds for him,” said Hearn on Jacobs’s future.
The best thing for Jacobs is for him to continue to fight washed guys like he had been doing before facing Ryder. In Jacobs’ two previous fights, he had good money beating Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Gabe Rosado in headliner fights on DAZN.
If DAZN is willing to continue to let Jacobs fight in their main events against those types of fighters, he can make good coin for another three to four years. But obviously, Jacobs is too old to beat the best at 168 or 160, and his fighting style is very boring to watch.
