Why Daniel Jacobs absolutely cannot afford to lose to John Ryder

There’s a lot of optimism in British boxing at the moment and there’s several fighters who believe they’re ready to step up and fight for world titles. Make no mistake, if Ryder beats Jacobs, then he’s ready for a world title. 

I’ve known John for many years and he’s a fighter I have a lot of respect for. Going back as far as 2013, John was one of the guys I used to prepare for Adonis Stevenson as he’s a short, aggressive southpaw. I knew back then he was tough as anything, and now he has a chance to show the world just how good he is. 

For too long, John was at domestic level, and he couldn’t put together the momentum that was required to step up. The talent and dedication was there, but there just seemed to be something missing that would allow him to move on and become a major threat to the leading names at both middleweight and super-middleweight. 

Over the last few years, it looks like it’s finally all coming together for him because I’ve been very impressed with what I’ve seen from him. Stoppage wins against Patrick Nielsen and Jamie Cox gave John a big lift and that paved the way for him to travel to my backyard to take on Callum Smith in 2019. 

Everyone knows how I feel about Callum, he’s an outstanding fighter and was heavily favoured to do a job on Ryder, but John gave a good account of himself despite losing on the scorecards. Smith was a world class super-middleweight and he’ll do good things at light-heavyweight too, so for Ryder to give him a tough fight, that shows that he can compete at the highest level. He’ll need to do that against Jacobs on Saturday night. 

The Brooklyn fighter has pretty much been set for stardom since turning professional around the dame time I did back in 2007. I actually had my third fight in Bolton the night Jacobs turned over in Las Vegas on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather’s fight against Ricky Hatton. You know you’re something of a big deal when you’re part of one of the biggest shows of the year. 

It looked easy for Jacobs early on his career, but he was undone by Dmitry Pirog when going for his first world title and then he faced an even bigger battel when he had to overcome cancer. That shows you the measure of the man because he didn’t only beat it, he beat it then came back to boxing to win a world title. His story truly is remarkable and there still might be a lot more to write.  

The last few years haven't been kind to him with losses against Gennadiy Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez, but he had enough moments in those fights to convince people that’s still an elite fighter. Last time out against Gabriel Rosado, Jacobs was extremely fortunate to get the win, but that might serve as a wakeup call because he can’t afford an off night against Ryder. 

Jacobs’ career has always been about competing for the biggest titles against the biggest names, and I’m almost certain that he’ll see this fight as a way back towards a world title fight. If he loses to Ryder, then he can forget about that as it’ll be Ryder pushing on towards a second shot at a world title. 

If Ryder loses, he’ll do what he’s done many times before, and that’s regroup and go again. He has unfinished business with Rocky Fielding, and there’s also the chance to perhaps fight Lerrone Richards. These are big domestic fights that Ryder can sink his teeth into, but I honestly don’t know where Jacobs can go. This a is a fight he can’t afford to lose and that’s why I think we could be in for something special in London this weekend.