Barclays Center was ready to see the hometown talent in action tonight as Daniel Jacobs faced undefeated Maciej Sulecki and Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller took on Johann Duhaupas. The crowd left satisfied as both Jacobs and Miller secured wins that will put them both in line for title contention.
Miller improved to 21-0 with his win vs Duhaupas. He found openings quickly to open the fight as he connected on a series of body shots. He was able to land some head shots heading into the second and took over that round also despite Duhaupas getting a head shot of his own to close it.
In round three, both fighters kept trading blows as they were able to answer back with every hard shot landed. In round four, Duhaupas easily found openings to connect on head shots that helped him start to create some momentum. That momentum shifted in the fifth round as Miller connected on a series of body and head shots that got him back into the fight. Milller took over from then as in the seventh round, he landed a hard jab on Duhaupas that enabled him to get any shot he wanted and easily won the round. Miller was able to work the body of Duhaupas for the next two rounds as he was able to connect on upper cuts.
In rounds 10 and 11, the fight started to favor Miller as he continued to connect on those uppercuts and jabs to the lower body of Duhaupas. Duhaupas gave one last effort in the 12th round by going back and forth with Miller on a series of jabs but it wasn’t enough as Miller won by unanimous decision. After the fight, he called out Anthony Joshua and said that he could knock him out of the ring. Expect a heavyweight showdown between those two if Joshua can’t lock in a fight with Deontay Wilder.
Coming into his fight, Jacobs knew that a rematch vs Gennady Golovkin or even a showdown with Jermall Charlo would be on the line should he secure a win vs Sulecki. Those opportunities would not go to waste as Jacobs grinded it out for a huge win and handed Sulecki his first loss.
Sulecki started the fight with a lot of aggressiveness but Jacobs was able to fend off many of the jabs. Jacobs started to find his offense early in the second round as he connected on a quick head shot to Sulecki along with uppercuts. Jacobs found an opening to land jabs on the lower body of Sulecki in round three and closed the round with body shots. In round four, Jacobs forced Sulecki into the ropes and connected on more body shots all while maintaining a solid defense as Sulecki was trying to connect with his own jabs.
In the fifth round, Sulecki was able to land the head shots on Jacobs that he was looking for in the previous round. Jacobs was able to return the favor to close the round. Sulecki won the sixth round as he got Jacobs by the ropes, connected on jabs, and earned a hard head shot. In round seven, Sulecki’s offense was in tact as he continued to find openings that got him more head shots on Jacobs.
In the eighth round, Sulecki maintained his aggressiveness but Jacobs was able to close the round with hard jabs to regain his momentum. In round nine, Jacobs started to find his own aggressiveness and found openings on the upper body of Sulecki that he was able to connect on and finished with head shots. Sulecki was able to connect on a series of hard jabs to Jacobs’ upper body in the 10th and 11th rounds.
In the final round, Jacobs knew he had to turn it up a notch to secure a win and he did as early in the round, he landed a vicious knockdown on Sulecki that almost ended the fight right there. The fight continued but it was all Jacobs from there as Sulecki was wounded and it got Jacobs to wear down the body and connect on a few more head shots. Jacobs won by unanimous decision and improved to 34-2.
I spoke with Jacobs after the fight on how the was able to find an opening in the final two rounds to connect on that knockdown and finish with some solid uppercuts to solidify the win.
“Sometimes if you take a second in the fight, things will slow down,” said Jacobs. “You’re able to see a lot more openings and the urgency I had going in there to try to knock him out had me trying to pace myself a bit more. I set up the jab and that’s something I worked on in the gym. I threw my hand slanted because we knew he was a taller guy. I knew if I could put a little angle on it, we could get a great shot at knocking him out but he got up and still showed great effort.”
Jacobs also discussed a rematch with Golovkin or maybe possibly fighting Jermall Charlo next. He said that fighting Golovkin again for a title would be good but he sees himself fighting Charlo next.