Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, Daniel “Miracle Man” Jacobs (31-1-0, 28 KOs) steamrolled former undefeated WBO 160lb champion Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (32-1-1, 23 KOs) with a thrilling first round knockout. The bout between the two Brooklyn natives was a major win for Jacobs, giving him significant reason to claim “top dog” status in the burgeoning discussion on who represents the class of the middleweight division.
Quillin never seemed that relaxed or confident before and during the first minute of the fight, and perhaps smelling blood, Jacobs immediately took the fight to Kid Chocolate. Jacobs used a skilled left hook decoy-right hand combination that caused Quillin to flinch, allowing a straight right to land hard on his left temple. Jacobs then unleashed a torrent of right and left punches to Quillin’s head, throwing a sweet body shot and uppercut as well. Finally, Jacobs sent a searing right to Quillin’s left temple that caused Quillin to allegorically stumble into the corner like a zombie from the Walking Dead. Although referee Harvey Dock didn’t see the stumbling gait of Quillin after the punch, he stopped the bout at 1:25 into the round after gazing deeply into the eyes of Quillin and seeing something he clearly didn’t like.
A dispute quickly arose due to Dock’s stoppage, with some claiming Quillin hadn’t been knocked down on the canvas and could have kept fighting. However, the better argument was that Dock correctly halted the bout since Jacobs would surely have continued the onslaught of fast, hard punches that would have toppled Quillin in any event, and, Quillin himself did not object to the stoppage.
The questions arise: who is the premier fighter of the middleweight division aside from Kashakstan-born and Los Angeles native Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (34-0-0, 31 KOs), the undefeated middleweight WBA Super World Middleweight, WBC World Middleweight and IBF World Middleweight Champion, and, who should get the chance to face Golovkin in a match that will generate fantastic amounts of press and money for both fighters? After last night’s superb performance–and the arguable fact that Jacobs has fought better opposition than Golovkin–Jacobs certainly can stake a claim to the notion that he is that fighter.
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