After missing a mandatory weigh-in, Daniel Jacobs will not be eligible to win the IBF Middleweight Championship against GGG on Saturday night
Daniel Jacobs overcame cancer, and on Saturday night he has the hopes of becoming the king of the middleweight division in boxing. To an extent he could still call himself that with a monumental upset of Gennady Golovkin, although he would be missing a piece of hardware in the process.
The battle between the undefeated, power-punching GGG and Jacobs will still take place on Saturday night from Madison Square Garden, but it will be for only two title instead of three. The WBC and WBA 160-pound titles will still be up for grabs, but according to a report from ESPN’s Dan Rafael, the IBF gold will not.
Unlike the WBC and WBA, the IBF requires the fighters to weigh-in on the morning of the fight. This is part of the process that Jacobs skipped on Saturday morning, meaning that he’s only eligible to win two titles, should he pull off the upset in New York City.
“Golovkin is defending his IBF title, however, Jacobs cannot acquire the title with a victory because he did not participate in the required IBF same-day weigh-in,” IBF championships chairman Lindsey Tucker said.
It’s really not the end of the world for Jacobs, though, as this could prove to be beneficial for him in the long run. Between naturally being bigger than Golovkin and sanctioning fees for the IBF, as Rafael mentioned in the report, he’s keeping all of his chips close to his chest here. Should he lose as the heavy underdog, no harm no foul. Should he win, then he still gets two title belts on Saturday night.
Both men did participate in the official weigh-in on Saturday and there were no issues there.