DAZN closes out its first full year in boxing with a stacked card highlighted by Daniel ‘Miracle Man’ Jacobs making his Super Middleweight debut against Mexican star Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on Friday, Dec. 20 at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona.
The main card of the evening will feature Julio Cesar Martinez taking on Cristofer Rosales for the vacant WBC World Flyweight title in a 12-round bout, and Maurice Hooker will make his Welterweight debut against Uriel Perez in a 10-round bout. The preliminary bouts will showcase Liam Smith battling Roberto Garcia, Josh Kellygoing up against Winston Campos, and undefeated Reshat Mati taking on Rakim Johnson.
Ahead of their bouts tomorrow night, the fighters stepped on the scales for the official weigh-in on Thursday afternoon.
12-Round Super Middleweight Bout @ 173 lbs.
Daniel Jacobs: 167.7 lbs.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr: 172.7 lbs.
12-Round WBC World Flyweight Title Bout @ 112 lbs.
Julio Cesar Martinez: 112 lbs.
Cristofer Rosales: 111.3 lbs.
10-Round Welterweight Bout @ 144 lbs.
Maurice Hooker: 144.3lbs.
Uriel Perez: 141.9 lbs.
6-Round Welterweight Bout @ 148 lbs.
Rashad Mati: 145.8 lbs.
Rakim Johnson: 146.4 lbs.
10-Round Welterweight Bout @ 151 lbs.
Josh Kelly: 150.4 lbs.
Winston Campos: 148.4 lbs.
10-Round Middleweight Bout @ 160 lbs.
Liam Smith: 159.9 lbs.
Roberto Garcia: 155.5 lbs.
DAZN looks forward to kicking off the new year with two highly-anticipated cards featuring junior middleweight champion Jaime Munguia moving up to middleweight to face Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan on Jan. 11, and undefeated middleweight star Demetrius Andrade defending his WBO world middleweight title against contender Luke Keeler in Miami on Thursday, Jan. 30. Also on that card will be IBF world super featherweight titlist Tevin Farmer defending against JoJo Diaz, and unified super bantamweight Daniel Roman defending his titles against Murodjon Akhmadaliev.
‘Miracle Man’ faces Chavez Jr on 168lb bow in Phoenix – Daniel Jacobs says he’s a happy fighter now he’s campaigning at Super-Middleweight as he makes his debut at 168lbs against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona on Friday night, live on DAZN on US and Sky Sports in the UK.
Jacobs (35-3 29 KOs) closed the book on his time at Middleweight in May with a unification clash with Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas, and the two-time World ruler now embarks on his quest to become a two-weight World champion.
The ‘Miracle Man’ begins that journey in Phoenix against Chavez Jr (51-3-1 33 KOs) the Mexican star that is also hunting two-weight World honors, but Jacobs has warned the 168lbs division that the extra weight moving up has made a huge difference to his mood in camp.
“It’s been amazing,” said Jacobs. “I’ve been able to be genuinely happy, to focus only on training and focus only on my skillset and not on the idea of cutting 10 to 15 pounds before the weigh in. So, it’s a big deal for me and I’m happy and I’m looking forward to showing everyone in the world that it wasn’t an excuse last time around.
“It was the actual fact of me cutting the weight and that would make a difference in the previous fights that I’ve been having. So now you’re going to see, in my opinion, a better version of myself and I look forward to that.
“I’m able to be a lot freer when it comes to putting more food and necessary foods in my body. I don’t have to limit myself and most importantly, I don’t have to go through that weight cut process that always drains me the 48 hours before the fight.
“I think with this last fight; it really took a toll on me. Obviously, we know the stipulations. I was in a contract with my last bout, so that was a clear indication for me that maybe I need to try and test the waters in 168 pounds just to give myself an opportunity to be myself, to be 100 per cent and camp has been beautiful.”
Chavez Jr and Jacobs clash on a huge night of action in Phoenix as Julio Cesar Martinez takes on Cristofer Rosales for the vacant WBC World Flyweight title.
The Welterweight division is in focus on the card as Maurice Hooker starts his quest to become a two-weight World champion as he moves up to Welterweight and takes on Uriel Perez on his bow at 147lbs. Josh Kelly is one of the stand out talents in the Welterweight division, and he meets Winston Campos as he closes in on a clash with European champion David Avanesyan at the start of 2020. Olympic gold medal man Daniyar Yeleussinov is another Welterweight star on the card and he looks to impress in his ninth pro outing against Alan Sanchez.
Gabriel Rosado will have a keen eye on the main event as he fights for the 38th time as a pro against Humberto Ochoa while Brit star Liam Smith continues his charge to a second World title reign in a ten round clash with Roberto Garcia.
Three of Matchroom Boxing USA’s bright young things complete the stacked card in Nikita Ababiy, Reshat Mati and Raymond Ford.
First Press Conference
Former middleweight champion, Daniel Jacobs and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. gathered for the official press conference to announce their showdown on Friday, Dec. 20 in Phoenix, Ariz. The event will be streamed live exclusively on DAZN, which is available on any connected device.
“Excited to back in the ring with a great opportunity against Julio Cesar Chavez to show my skills in the super middleweight division. It’s an opportunity to be strong, and go inside the ring fully healthy, no excuses outside. I think this will be my show. This is a perfect caliber opponent, and complements my style very well. This sport can be very unforgiving, and the thrill can be gone. My dear friend Patrick Day, I lost a great friend of mine. It’s really hard to move forward, but I will always have him in the back of my mind. Boxing is not the same, but I want to maximize my full potential. I look forward to continuing in the super middleweight division, and I’ll see you all Dec. 20.”
“I’m so happy to be here and this opportunity given to me. I’m going to be ready, and I’m going train hard for this fight. I’m very happy about this fight.”
“This is a huge fight to end the year. The last few weeks we have seen fight of the year candidates continuously. On Dec. 20, we cap off with a fantastic fight. Danny Jacobs coming off a great fight against Canelo Alvarez, losing his IBF Middleweight belt, now moving up to 168, which I think will be a brilliant division for him. And Julio Cesar Chavez who has had his ups and down, now gets a great opportunity to fight where his father last fought.”
“Fight season continues. And Jacobs vs. Chavez Jr. will be a spectacular way to close out 2019. In the final four months of the year, our subscribers were treated to who’s who of boxing’s best:
Canelo, Kovalev, GGG, Anthony Joshua, Andy Ruiz, Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia, Josh Taylor, Regis Prograis – and now we add Jacobs and Chavez Jr.
It’s a fascinating fight between high-profile former champions and we think it will create a lot of buzz within the boxing community.”
