Gennady Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs Won't Fight for IBF Title After Missed Weigh-in
Gennady Golovkin won't put the IBF title on the line in his fight with Daniel Jacobs Saturday after Jacobs declined to participate in the federation's weigh-in.
"Golovkin is defending his IBF title, however, Jacobs cannot acquire the title with a victory because he did not participate in the required IBF same-day weigh-in," IBF championships chairman Lindsey Tucker said, according to ESPN.com's Dan Rafael.
Rafael noted the IBF is unique in that it requires fighters to be weighed on the morning of a fight. The fighter can weigh no more than 10 pounds over the fight's weight limit.
Both Jacobs and Golovkin were under the middleweight limit (160 pounds) when they stepped on the scales Friday.
Rafael wrote how Jacobs would potentially benefit by skipping Saturday's weigh-in: "However, Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs), owner of the WBA's secondary title and Golovkin's mandatory challenger, is a naturally bigger man and apparently made the decision not to constrain himself following the weigh-in, which will allow him to rehydrate and be stronger on fight night."
Golovkin won the IBF middleweight title after beating David Lemieux in October 2015. Since then, he has successfully defended the championship against Dominic Wade and Kell Brook. No matter the result of Saturday night's bout, he'll walk out of Madison Square Garden in New York City with the belt.
Jacobs is smart to gain whatever competitive advantage he can against Golovkin. The 34-year-old Kazakh remains unbeaten in the ring (36-0-0), and he's a 1-7 favorite to get his 37th win, according to OddsShark.
