Daniel Jacobs had planned to honor Patrick Day with a speech after his victory over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. but the crowd had other ideas.
Daniel Jacobs leaves Phoenix with a victory at a heavier weight, some newfound fans and $1 million more than he expected when he arrived. But he also departs with one regret.
He didn’t get a chance to remember an absent friend the way he had hoped to.
There was an angry crowd, boos and a shower of debris instead of a solemn moment for Patrick Day.
“I really was looking forward to giving a speech about my friend Patrick Day afterwards,’’ Jacobs said after fans threw cups of beer, bottles, chairs and just about anything else not anchored to the floor at Talking Stick Arena in outrage at Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.’s decision not to continue after the fifth round Saturday night on DAZN.
Jacobs came into the ring wearing a custom-made robe and trunks in honor of Day, a middleweight who died four days after suffering brain trauma during a fight in early October. “Patrick Day, All Day“ was stitched in blue on the back of the rob and across the trunks.
But plans for heartfelt memorial were undone by the rush for cover.
“To me, that kind of spoiled that moment, in order for me to really honor him the right way,’’ Jacobs said. “But this is boxing. This is a crazy, hectic sport. I wouldn’t assume anything else.’’
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. quit after the fifth round against Daniel Jacobs on Friday in Phoenix, sparking a near riot.
PHOENIX – Boos, then beer came from an angry crowd.
There was only contempt for Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on Friday night after he quit after the fifth round in a TKO loss to Daniel Jacobs at Talking Stick Arena.
Chavez Jr., who angered Mexican fans when he failed to make the 168-pound weight limit and then paid Jacobs $1 million from his contracted $2 million, outraged an estimated crowd of 12,000 when his corner suddenly signaled he would not continue.
A happy crowd suddenly became a mob. Chavez (51-4-1, 33 KOs) left the ring under a shower of cups and beer. Officials headed for cover, racing away from the ring with ring cards as cover. Fights erupted in the stands. It was dangerous. It was scary.
It was also a lot like what happened to his iconic father, Julio Cesar Chavez, in a 2000 fight, also in Phoenix. After he lost to Kostya Tszyu, the crowd erupted in anger, throwing debris and forcing fans to take cover. Chavez Sr. was in the crowd. The moment couldn’t have been a good one. The memory of what happened nearly two decades ago couldn’t have been a happy one either.
In Friday’s immediate aftermath, it wasn’t clear why Chavez quit. It looked as if a right hand from Jacobs (36-3, 30 KOs) might have broken his nose. And, indeed, Chavez trainer Freddie Roach told DAZN broadcasters that his fighter said he couldn’t breathe.
Blood immediately began to pour from his nostrils. One look from his corner and it was over. So, too, was any chance of the son ever fulfilling a destiny that so many of his fans thought he had inherited.
Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. suffered his final two losses in Phoenix. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has a chance to change the family fortune there.
PHOENIX – A father and son, Julio Cesar Chavez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., stood in front of an arena Thursday in the center of a city named for a mythical bird rising from the ashes. They’ve been here before, in different eras, yet both for the same reason.
Father fought to relaunch his career, save it from those ashes, two decades ago against Kostya Tszyu.
Now, it’s his son’s turn Friday night against Danny Jacobs at Talking Stick Arena on DAZN in a fight that was uncertain until Tuesday when a Nevada judge issued an injunction, lifting a suspension that allowed Chavez to retain his license in Arizona.
The fight is on, or at least it was late Thursday. But controversy continued to swirl at an early morning weigh-in. Chavez Jr. stepped on the scale to test his weight for a bout contracted to be at super middleweight. He realized there was no way he would make 168 pounds. He was nearly five pounds too heavy. He was due to step on the scale officially within about an hour. Those five pounds might as well have been 500. There was no magic way to shed them. Forget the sauna or some hasty road work on Phoenix streets still clogged by rush-hour traffic.
It was time to make a deal or toss the advertised fight into that ash can. Talks quickly began with Chavez leaving and re-entering the ballroom for the weigh-in repeatedly. Finally, he smiled. They had a deal, a re-negotiated contract. The fight would be at 173 pounds. Chavez made that weight, no problem. In his official trip to the scale he was at 172.7 pounds. Jacobs, a former middleweight champion moving up in weight, was at 167.9.
Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. (right) ran into an old friend at his son’s weigh-in Thursday in Phoenix, local hero Michael Carbajal. Ed Mulholland / Matchroom Boxing USA
But the deal didn’t happen without a price. According to multiple sources at the weigh-in, Chavez Jr. agreed to pay Jacobs $1 million. According to contracts filed with the Arizona Boxing & MMA Commission, the purses for Chavez Jr. and Jacobs are $2 million each. But the redone agreement means Jacobs (35-3, 29 KOs) walks away from the 173-pound bout with $3 million and Chavez (51-3-1, 33 KOs) with $1 million.
It’s expensive, but it’s an investment in a future that still looks uncertain for Chavez. In effect, he is fighting to put some air under his wings and some distance from those ashes. It’s risky, at least it appears to be, according to the bookmakers who have made Jacobs an 18-1 favorite. But Chavez Jr. is always dangerous. He lost a one-sided decision to Sergio Martinez, yet he staged an astonishing 12th-round, nearly knocking out Martinez in wild three minutes that effectively ended Martinez’s career.
He has father’s heavy hands, which means he has a chance. His father was there Thursday at a ceremonial weigh-in outside of the arena where his career ended against an Omaha car salesman, Grover Wiley. Chavez failed to get off the stool after the fourth round in bout that had been advertised as one stop on a goodbye tour of cities. As it turned out, it was a final goodbye.
The senior Chavez had been there once before, just a few miles away at the old Veterans Memorial Coliseum on July 29, 2000. He had come to Arizona because he had been told he would not be licensed in Nevada. At the time, everybody from leading media personalities to late Senator John McCain openly questioned whether Chavez could still fight. Rather than risk a license denial in Nevada, he applied for one in Arizona. It was granted.
Chavez Jr. was in good spirits only after salvaging his fight with Daniel Jacobs by renegotiating their deal after Chavez was unable to make weight. Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing USA
The card drew a capacity crowd. Tzyu overwhelmed Chavez, stopping him in the sixth round. Chavez left the arena, refusing to submit to a drug test. There were reports in The Arizona Republic that 100 DEA agents were in the crowd, looking for suspects alleged to be in the drug trade. It was a wild night. Controversial, from start to finish.
If it sounds familiar, it is. The Nevada Commission suspended Chavez Jr. for allegedly refusing a drug test in late October. That’s when Matchroom Promotions moved the card to Arizona and Chavez Jr. filed a suit, winning an injunction.
Meanwhile, controversy still sells. Promoter Eddie Hearn says ticket sales have been brisk in the couple of days since the injunction. He expects a crowd of 10,000. But more wouldn’t be a surprise to anybody who knows the Phoenix market. It’s a walk-up town. A couple of thousand showed up at Veterans Memorial Coliseum a few hours before Chavez-Tszyu nearly 20 years ago.
It could happen all over again. The geography, some of the circumstances and last name are the same. But only the son can change the result and make that bird fly.
Daniel Jacobs is honoring the late Patrick Day with a special robe he plans to wear into the ring on Dec. 20.
All Day Patrick Day
Those are the words, inscribed at the top and bottom of a robe introduced this week by Daniel Jacobs.
Words to live by. Words to fight for.
Jacobs will fight in memory of his old friend on Dec. 20 at Talking Stick Arena in Phoenix. For now, he is scheduled to face Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. But that could change, subject to a lawsuit Chavez has filed in Nevada in an attempt to get a ruling that will allow him to fight in Arizona despite his suspension in Nevada for refusing to undergo a drug test.
The opponent doesn’t seem to matter much. Instead, Jacobs’ heartfelt fight to honor a fallen friend is the story.
“Boxing is not the same,’’ Jacobs said when the super middleweight fight was announced.
But feelings for Day are unchanged, stronger than ever since Day died four days after suffering brain trauma in a fight on Oct. 12.
“The robe is symbolic of what he meant to me,” Jacobs said in a conference call.
Jacobs introduced the robe and trunks on social media this week. In addition to All Day, Patrick Day, there is picture of the middleweight, a Rest in Paradise inscription and the dates of his short life, 1992-2019.
The grief is still there, Jacobs said. But he is also prepared to re-enter the ring and confront the dangers that killed a friend.
“I know he would want me to not be sad, to be an inspiration in the ring,’’ said Jacobs, who plans to give the robe and trunks to Day’s family. “That’s who he was. We sparred numerous times in the ring, spent countless hours together. He was a beautiful person, and I know he would want me to keep moving forward.”
The Nevada State Athletic Commission upheld Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.’s suspension, which puts his fight against Daniel Jacobs in jeopardy.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. might be fighting any time soon.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission upheld Chavez’s suspension, casting further uncertainty on whether he will be able to fight Danny Jacobs in a super middleweight bout scheduled for December 20 in Phoenix.
Nevada’s decision Wednesday at its annual meeting was no surprise. The NSAC was not happy that Chavez refused to submit to drug testing. It was also angry at promoter Eddie Hearn’s subsequent decision to move the troubled card, from Las Vegas’ MGM Grand to Talking Stick Arena in downtown Phoenix.
Under federal laws established by the Muhammad Ali Act, Arizona is expected to honor Nevada’s ongoing suspension. However, the Arizona State Boxing & MMA Commission had yet to rule on whether to let the fight happen.
The Arizona Commission is waiting on legal advice from the Arizona Gaming Commission. The state regulatory agency for combat sports answers to the Gaming Commission. Reportedly, Gabe Rosado will fight Jacobs if Chavez can’t.
The NSAC has objected to the way Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sports has handled the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. situation.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission has made it clear that Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sports must follow Nevada law – or else.
Bob Bennett, the Commission’s executive director, sent a letter to Hearn objecting to the fact Chavez is scheduled to fight Daniel Jacobs in Phoenix even though Chavez is temporarily suspended for refusing to take a drug test in Nevada, according to a report by Thomas Hauser on BoxingScene.com.
The Chavez-Jacobs fight had been scheduled to take place in Nevada before Chavez declined to provide a test sample on October 24. The venue was then changed to Phoenix.
Bennett isn’t fooling around. He states in the letter, obtained by Hauser: “Grounds exist to bring disciplinary action against Matchroom before the NSAC. If Matchroom does not take the necessary action to come into compliance with Nevada law, our office will consider its options.”
The letter lays out Nevada law, including a portion that applies directly to this situation. It reads: “Under the Ali Act, no boxer is permitted to box while under suspension from any boxing commission due to, among other things, failure of a drug test.”
The issue is scheduled to be discussed by Nevada commissioners on November 20. Hauser explained the possible outcomes of that meeting this way:
“The NSAC placed Chavez on temporary suspension pending the result of a November 20 commission meeting. At that meeting, the five commissioners are expected to review the temporary suspension and set it down for a hearing on December 18.
“The key question is whether, in the interim, the NSAC commissioners will classify Chavez’s suspension as an administrative suspension or a suspension for refusing to submit to a sample collection. If they opt for the latter, the Arizona commission would be in violation of federal law if it allowed Jacobs-Chavez to be contested.”
Here are portions of the letter:
“Nevada law prohibits any promoter licensed by the NSAC from having any dealings related to unarmed combat with a person who has been suspended by the NSAC. Nevada law also prohibits a promoter from permitting a person under suspension from participating in any contest or exhibition of unarmed combat during the period of suspension. Any violation of Nevada or Federal law by a licensed promoter provides grounds for disciplinary action.
“In addition, under the Ali Act, no boxer is permitted to box while under suspension from any boxing commission due to, among other things, failure of a drug test. Under Nevada law, an unarmed combatant that refuses to submit to the collection of a sample or specimen upon the request of the NSAC or its representative, or otherwise evades the collection thereof, has committed an anti-doping violation and is subject to disciplinary action just as he or she would be if he or she failed a drug test.
“Based on Matchroom’s ongoing dealings with Chavez while he has been on suspension, it is apparent that Matchroom has violated Nevada law. Further, given that Chavez’s suspension is based on his refusal to submit to a drug test requested by the NSAC, and thus an anti-doping violation, it is apparent that the event scheduled to occur in Arizona on December 20, 2019, is in violation of the Ali Act. As such, Matchroom is promoting an event that potentially violates federal law.”
The letter goes on:
“On November 7, 2019, I contacted Shaun Palmer, Matchroom’s Head of Legal and Business Affairs, and informed him of the legal issues with Matchroom’s dealings with Chavez discussed herein. I further informed him of the potential consequences should Matchroom not take corrective measures to comply with Nevada law, including that a violation of Nevada law would be considered by the NSAC when deciding whether to renew Matchroom’s promoter’s license.”
