Canelo Alvarez vs Daniel Jacobs

                                            Canelo Alvarez vs Daniel Jacobs

Canelo Alvarez vs Daniel Jacobs: Canelo Alvarez is the best middleweight fighter in boxing. Daniel Jacobs thinks he can beat him. When the two fight on Saturday night on DAZN—the second fight of Alvarez’s massive $365 million deal with the streaming service—Jacobs could take Alvarez’s world titles and the spot as the top 160-pounder on the globe. Or Alvarez—who is a substantial betting favorite—could simply continue his winning ways.

“This Saturday the No. 1 and No. 2 best middleweights on the planet will put everything on the line for one simple reason—to see who is the best,” Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya said. “That is boxing at its finest. Indeed, this is the biggest fight in boxing featuring the biggest star in boxing in the biggest place for boxing on the biggest platform for boxing.”

OK, despite the hyperbole in that statement—Gennady Golovkin, who beat Jacobs in 2017, is probably the second-best 160-pounder, and for now, DAZN is not the biggest platform in the sport—De La Hoya is correct about the importance of this matchup.


“It’s definitely going to be a very important fight for middleweight, it’s going to be a very important fight for boxing in general,” Golovkin said. “… I think it’s going to be pretty even keel.”

Boxers making their predictions are certainly split on who will win, although oddsmakers don’t seem to have that issue. As of Friday, Alvarez (50-1-2, 35 KOs) was a -500 favorite, while Jacobs (35-2, 29 KOs) was a +350 underdog. Either way, Alvarez is going to make a ton of money. As noted by ESPN, Alvarez will be making a $35 million purse while Jacobs is guaranteed $10 million. For Jacobs, it's not a bad raise from the $1.6 million he made vs. Sergiy Derevyanchenko in his last outing.