Daniel Jacobs will return to the ring after 14-plus months to face John Ryder in a super middleweight bout in London.
Daniel Jacobs (37-3, 30 KOs) vs. John Ryder (30-5, 17 KOs)
- Date: Saturday, Feb. 12
- Time: 3 p.m. ET / noon PT (main event later in show)
- Where: Alexandra Palace, London
- TV/Stream: DAZN
- Cost: $19.99 per month or $99.99 annually
- Division: Super middleweight
- Rounds: 12
- At stake: No titles
- Pound-for-pound ranking: None
- Odds: Jacobs 1½-1 favorite (average of multiple outlets)
- Also on the card: Lee McGregor vs. Diego Alberto Ruiz, junior featherweights; Ellie Scotney vs. Jorgelina Guanini, super bantamweights
- Prediction: Jacobs UD
- Background: Jacobs said it was always a dream of his to fight in London, the site of his return to the ring this coming Saturday. We’ll see whether hometown favorite Ryder can turn it into a nightmare in a super middleweight title eliminator. Jacobs lost his middleweight title to Canelo Alvarez by decision in May 2019. He then moved up to super middleweight, at which he has fought twice: a fifth-round knockout of Julio Cesar Chavez in December 2019 and a closer-than-expected split-decision victory over Gabriel Rosado in November of 2020. The cancer survivor from Brooklyn was so disappointed with his performance against Rosado that he apologized afterward. He remains major player in the 168-pound division – he’s ranked by all four sanctioning bodies, No. 3 by the WBC – but at 35 the polished boxer-puncher is probably entering the final stage of his successful career. Ryder should provide a barometer to determine how much Jacobs has left. The 33-year-old Londoner is 2-0 since he gave a solid performance but lost a wide decision to then-WBA super middleweight titleholder Callum Smith in November 2019, outpointing Mike Guy in December 2020 and stopping Jozef Jurko in five rounds this past September. Ryder, a good, experienced boxer, is left-handed.
