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Vinny’s Views: Danny Jacobs Blows Out Luis Arias

By Vinny “Glory Days” Lucci (At Ringside)

Nassau Coliseum turned into a showcase of young gunslingers come to town but it was old pro middleweight Daniel “Magic Man” Jacobs who dropped hammers all night closing out the show. The Long Island venue played host to British promoter Eddie Hearn’s first American card that featured Luis Arias challenging Jacobs to usurp his number 2 WBC ranking in a twelve round bout.

In what turned out to be an entertaining but predictable middleweight scrap providing Danny a good work out and removing seven months of ring rust the main event went the 12 round distance with Jacobs winning a convincing but spirited unanimous decision. The scores read 120-107, 118-109, and 119-108 were never in debate. Ringside Report awarded Danny every round. Danny hurt Luis in the first and it appeared his glove touched the canvass but Jacobs wasn’t awarded the knockdown. Later in the 11th the referee called a Jacob’s Knockdown but it appeared an off balanced Arias may have slipped. Didn’t matter as little could possibly change what was sandwiched in between.

Arias was taken out of whatever fight plan he had within the first three rounds and refused to cross Jacob’s imaginary line he drew in ring center on two occasions and dared his foe to cross it and stay there. Instead, Arias used a lot of holding tactics that served to frustrate Danny from developing a steady rhythm but his vaunted power never impressed Jacobs or held him at bay.

As the rounds wore on the Magic Man pushed to close the show as expected late in the fight. Danny tried in vain the last three rounds to push the envelope but Arias was in survival mode and still throwing hard enough to stop Danny from just walking over him.

Later at post fight press conference Danny revealed he was beguiled by hurting his adversary early and it went against him as fight unfolded. He admitted that half way through tenth round the realization that his opponent might not fall this night was setting in. In retrospect having seen only a small sample size of Arias work and this being his first big rodeo it is quite possible his whiskers are of the ilk where he can’t be put down.

Arias walked up to dais sporting a an ugly gym style cast over his foot that was obviously still bleeding masking both the gait to his step as well as the original color of gauze and tape. He claimed that in the third round a baseball size blister developed over the top of his lead foot and the agonizing discomfort prevented him from truly settling down on his punches, especially his right hand. He made sure not to use it as an excuse merely explaining why it was on. He offered his props to Danny and reminded media he would except the challenge of any middleweight placed before him. He also went on to declare that HBO gave his team a 24 hour window in which to agree to sign fight or lose opportunity to another contender.

Further frustration was addressed by his team as no one enforced a day of fight weigh in, and Jacobs just like in his last fight against Gennady Golovkin was in absentia. Arias entered ring a svelte 170 and easily could go back down to 154 if right opportunity presented itself. His trainer former middleweight champion John David Jackson called for an abolishment across the board that allows fighters to rehydrate more than 10 pounds over night, siting that he believed Daniel Jacobs entered ring over 175 pounds making him a legitimate cruiserweight.

While Danny is a big middleweight the extra weight whatever it may be was chiseled in stone and did not prevent him from displaying his hand speed, defense or footwork.

Promoter Eddie Hearn promised to bring Danny back home to Brooklyn this coming April to Barclays Brooklyn where his fighter has a tremendous New York fan base. Hopefully the opponent will be named in next several weeks. Hearn likened the middleweight division to a three man tier of supremacy including Golovkin, Canelo Alvarez and Danny. He brushed aside the notion that Jermall Charlo deserved to be in the mix quite yet and that WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders and top ranked contender David Lemieux who fight in one month were not in his class either.
Ringside Report believes that taking on the winner of that bout will give Jacobs the clout and prestige to line himself up next fall against the winner of proposed rematch between Gennady and Canelo in May.

The undercard boasted a heavyweight scrap featuring Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller, 20-0-1, 18 KO’s looking to secure a title shot taking on Polish giant Mariusz “The Viking” Wach, 33-3, 17 KO’S which served as top match to main event. Going into tonight’s event the 37 year old Polish giant who stands 6’8” had lost only to Wlad Klitschko by UD back in November 2012 and Alexander Povetkin by TKO in 12th round of November 2015. Miller a former kick boxer who usually tips the scales at 299 lbs. was the aggressor throughout mixing body up body and head shots. Mariusz foolishly surrendered his height by constantly leaning into his tormentor. The behemoths never stopped punching but the bout looked like they were fighting in slow motion leaving one to wonder if either could last a few rounds against champions Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder.

The point became moot for Wach as referee stopped contest in 9th round proving November is not his month. Post-fight Miller uttered the line of the night stating “He’d take a sloppy win over a good looking loss any day of the week!”

The HBO televised card opened with scrappy knock out artists Cletus Seldin, 21-0, 17 KO’s versing Roberto Ortiz, 35-2-2, 26 KO’s in a 10 round super lightweight bout. 10 Less than thirty seconds into opening bell Ortiz was dropped with a right hand head shot. Cletus fights like the house is on fire throwing tight punches with piston precision. He dropped his man again before round was over. Known as the Hebrew Hammer with an exciting style reminiscent of the “forties” he opened up a cut on his foe’s brow in second round, and then dropped him again in the third. The cut opened disfiguring tide pools as Ortiz eyebrow tuned his face into a crimson river as wound bled freely. Bout was stopped by ringside doctor. Seldin is truly a fighter to keep an eye on as he prepares to mount a title assault in near future as he boasts the skills, confidence and power of a complete packaged fighter.

Undercard highlights: Tommy Rainone of Rockville Center, 26-8-2, 6 KO’s took on Mexican rival George Sosa, 15-10-1, 15 KO’s from Passaic N.J.in a six round Jr. Middleweight match up. Both men had to settle for majority draw after a spirited half dozen rounds of combat. Neither boxer possessing the heavy hands needed to impress or sway judges one way or another in what amounted to a glorified sparring match. Prefight questions abounded over Tommy perhaps seeing the end of the rainbow and hanging up the leather. Rainone who is self-managed and promoted deals in his own reality realizing a title shot has long passed him by and now seeks the simple goal of acquiring 30 wins. This fight doesn’t get him any closer to his goals, nor does it dismiss him. Here’s hoping Tommy reaches his apex dream without becoming a steppingstone for future prospects.

Southpaw Jessie Angel Hernandez of Fort Worth Texas, 10-1, 7KO’s versed Baltimore’s Glenn Dezurn, 9-1, 6 KO’s in an 8 round Super bantamweight match winning a unanimous decision. The bout was contested in crisp punching tandem with neither fighter allowing the other an inch of real estate or moments rest.

Highly touted twenty one year old Jr. Middleweight prospect Conor Benn, (son of former champion Nigel) 10-0, 9 KO’s, did battle with Brandon Sanudo 7-6, taking his man out with wicked body shot one minute into round two of a six round bout. Figueroa was counted out knees never attempting to rise to beat the ten count.

In a Jr. Welterweight matchup Kazakh Dimash Miyazov, 13-0-3, stopped Massachusetts Agustine Mauras, 6-4-3, 3 KO’s in fifth round of scheduled six.

Earlier in evening Tyrone James, 6-0, 3 KO’s beat Daniel Sostre, 12-15-1, 5 KO’s by UD in a six round Jr. Middleweight scrap.

The first bout opened with Shohjahon Ergashev knocking out overmatched Marquis Hawthorne, 5-8, 1 KO, of Waco Texas in second round of scheduled 6 round welterweight bout. Shohjahon who is from Brooklyn via Ezbetkistan ran his perfect record to 10-0, 10 knockouts.

Stay Tuned…

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