Daniel Jacobs vs. Sergio Mora: Winner, Recap and Reaction

A potentially excellent fight came to a premature end on Saturday.

WBA middleweight champion Daniel "Miracle Man" Jacobs (30-1, 27 KO) defeated Sergio "The Latin Snake" Mora (28-4-2, 9 KO) via second-round TKO because the challenger couldn't continue due to an injured ankle. PBC tweeted the result:

Jacobs was applying pressure with Mora up against the ropes and dropped him with a right hand. The challenger's left leg appeared to buckle, and you could see he was in pain from the grimace on his face. He got to his feet but had a noticeable limp, and referee Gary Rosato immediately stepped in to call an end to the fight.

It's always terrible when a fighter gets injured, but this was really bad because it appeared we were going to see an amazing fight.

In the first round, Jacobs dropped Mora with a huge right hand. Here's a look at it, per PBC:

The challenger didn't appear to be badly hurt, but Jacobs came looking for the finish nonetheless. Like the wily veteran he is, Mora kept his wits about him and took advantage of Jacobs' reckless pursuit of the finish.

Mora would catch Jacobs with an equally hard left hook that dropped the champion. Professional poker player Kevin McArthur has Mora's knockdown:

Jacobs was clearly angered and embarrassed by the knockdown, given Mora's modest KO total (nine in 34 bouts). He said as much after the fight, per the PBC broadcast.

It seemed Jacobs was energized and intent upon knocking Mora out.

The only issue with that strategy was that Jacobs hadn't completely regained his legs. He was a little wobbly for the remainder of the round. Just as we were getting comfortable on the edge of our seats in the second round, the punch and injury happened.

Gregory Payan/Associated Press

When the fight was over, a dejected Mora said he "heard a pop" and that his "ankle was broken." A stretcher was brought to the ring and a brace was placed on his leg as he left the arena. Before he exited, he did tell ESPN's Jonathan Coachman that he wanted a rematch, per the ESPN broadcast.

Jacobs was having none of it. 

When asked about a rematch, he declined and instead chose to talk about a potential battle with Peter Quillin.

Not so fast, Daniel.

The fight lasted a little over a round, and Mora legitimately dropped the champion. It's debatable as to whether the second knockdown of Mora was even legit. Translation: Jacobs didn't prove he was better than Mora.

A rematch is in order.

We can only hope that Mora's injury isn't too severe and that he can return to get the second chance he earned in a little over four minutes of scintillating action.

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