Vinny’s Views: Daniel Jacobs Vs Maciej Sulecki: The Stats, The Facts & The Fight Prediction Is In!
By Vinny “Glory Days” Lucci
Sometimes redemption is as simple as forgiving oneself yet other times we feel the burden of having to carry around failures in a gunny sacks until we exorcise the demons that haunt us in others eyes. That goes for all walks of life but perhaps the professional boxer coming back from a loss is most likely to be walking in his own shadows with a cross to bear. Unless you walk a mile in other man’s shoes humanity simply can’t comprehend the dread of feeling you’ve been knocked off a perch reserved for gods, not mere men. Losing the aura of invincibility that comes with losing a world championship belt also means they have lost being treated like a king among men.
It’s a bitter pill of reality to swallow and having known boxers the last forty years it’s safe to say that no one is immune. Lucky ones do get a second chance, but the great ones forge their own destiny in the short time allotted we call life, and force the hand of fate by working twice as hard by creating the opportunities that will once again set their legacy in stone.
Enter Daniel Jacobs, the man who would be king. While middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin seeks his own redemption against Canelo Alvarez for the pathetic scoring last September that resulted in a hotly contested draw, Jacobs seeks to remind the world that he in fact is the most deserving of contenders for fighting the winner of rematch. With Alvarez recently coming up dirty on VADA testing the boxing community at large has been turned off by the ridiculous notion that it was from eating tainted meat in Mexico, and worse yet that the highly protected property of Golden Boy Promotions is not being fined, suspended, or even ridiculed.
As WBO belt holder Billy Joe Saunders continues to defend his bogus belt on Golovkin conquered rethreads Jacobs continues to seek out undefeated fighters and remove the “0” from their unblemished records in hopes of gaining the proper attention to forcing his own rematch with Gennady where he stood up to the champion all night but just not long enough inside the pocket where he surprisingly excelled but refused to dominate instead electing to use lateral movement and sufficient distance.
The Event:
Daniel “The Magic Man” Jacobs will tangle with undefeated Maciej Sulecki on April 28 at Barclays Center, Brooklyn New York. The venue is promoted by Eddie Hearn of Match Room Boxing who has committed himself to take a slew of his talent and promoting them on American soil. Daniel is the prince of Brooklyn and Barclay’s has become a second home. The undercard features many boxers from all over the world promising a good night of fisticuffs.
The Stats:
Daniel Jacobs is the former WBA middleweight champion who owns a record of 33-2, 29 KO’s. At 6’ tall and a 73” reach the orthodox boxer is 31 years old and out to prove he has not peaked and ready to assume control of division. Daniel is a well-balanced boxer with great technical skills and solid power in either hand.
Maciej Sulecki is a Polish boxer who hails from Warsaw and has quietly been putting together an unbeaten string of victories harnessing the necessary attention to secure this match including a win by KO over Hugo Centeno, JR. who is scheduled to challenge Jermall Charlo this April. Sulecki also stands an even six feet tall with a problematic reach that is 5” shorter than Jacobs. The orthodox boxer is 28 years old and believes he is entering his prime and up for the task regardless of lack of fighting at this level of competition. He always enters ring in pristine condition and owns a spotless record of 26-0, 10 KO’s just coming into his own.
Last Fight:
Jacobs fought this past November at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale N.Y. relieving undefeated upstart Luis Arias of all the verbal braggadocio of pre- fight press conferences and reduced him to another of the walking wounded with first loss on his record via UD. After two somewhat competitive rounds Jacobs dominated completely over the next ten and connected on 32% of his punch output. Arias fought in survival mode and Danny possibly in frustration not finding the openings for a KO decided to get some work in removing eight months of rust following his unification decision loss to Gennady Golovkin in March. While the press was unkind to Arias, Ringside Report thinks the kid has a future but was rushed too quickly into a match with one of the most talented fighters in the sport without first having tested the waters against some known seasoned veterans.
Sulecki took a UD 10 round victory over Jack Culcay-Keth this past October at Presidential Center, Newark, N.J. Keth broke up the seven bout KO streak dating back to 2014 that Maciej was building upon.
Styles:
Jacobs is an outstanding boxer with exceptional balance, poise and confidence. He exhibits great technical skills and carries blunt power in either hand. He is faced with a come forward boxer who will give him the opportunities to showcase his superiority in what could make for a fan friendly slug fest.
Sulecki is a well-conditioned fighting machine who excels at getting inside the pocket where he displays his best work. He’s dangerous with short punches to rib cage and uppercuts up the middle. From outside the pocket his jab may be useless against Jacobs and fighting inside his comfort zone it is predicted here he is simply out manned.
What to look for fight night: Daniel Jacobs will come out looking to dictate both pace and distance further erasing any doubts left behind in his last match and try to secure the knock out. Sulecki will try to impose his will and force his way inside the pocket where he believes his relentless pressure will upset the odds. He has only fought in the states five times throughout his career so thus far this will be the biggest stage he has performed on.
The Vinny Factor:
Team Sulecki might be a tad overzealous in choosing this match up not factoring in the intangibles of what their boxer is truly up against. Starting with the ring walk Jacobs has been known in recent fights to rehydrate all the way to cruiserweight. Miraculously, he never appears bloated and his muscles maintain tone. Add to the mix that Jacobs has a very under rated chin based on a KO loss to one Dmitry Pirog back in 2010. The unexpected and dramatic KO occurred not only while Pirog was switching between orthodox and southpaw, but it is quite possible Daniel was already suffering from a life threatening form of bone cancer called Osteosarcoma.
Having not only won the fight of his life with inner fortitude, Jacobs had returned to ring and survived the heavy thunder and artillery of Gennady Golovkin where he tasted the canvass in the fourth round and went on to fight gallantly throughout the high profile match. Making matters harder on Maciej to bring his foe down as promised, Jacobs is adept at switching into southpaw stance from time to time with a comfort ability that he is not particularly known for. The coup de gracious is the simple fact that as well rounded as Sulecki appears to be there is nothing on his ledger that will prepare him for this night. Danny is better on paper in every single category mano a mano. (Man to man)
Odds:
Vegas line has Jacobs the favorite at -1600 with Sulecki at +800
Prediction:
Jacobs by stoppage in 10 rounds or less.
Stay tuned…
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