Daniel “Miracle Man” Jacobs has a knack for getting to the top every time life throws him a curve ball.
Raised in Brooklyn’s tough streets by his mother, grandmother, and aunts, he avoided the streets’ temptations to become a decorated amateur boxer. But then, seven years ago, he almost lost his life to a rare form of cancer. He battled to beat the disease and went on to become the world middleweight champion two years after the life-threatening diagnosis.
After losing the middleweight title in March 2017 to all-time great Gennady “GGG”Golovkin, Jacobs was once again just another contender looking for a title shot.
Jacobs is again at the top of the middleweight division
On Sat., Oct. 27, 2018 at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater, “Miracle Man” made the most of another bid for a world title against his stablemate, Sergiy Derevyanchenko. After a tough fight, he edged the Ukranian with a split decision victory for the vacant International Boxing Federation (IBF) title. Two judges scored it 115-112 for Jacobs, and the other had it 114-113 for Derevyanchenko.
Jacobs is again at the top of the middleweight division with Canelo Alvarez (Unified middleweight champ) and Demetrius Andrade (World Boxing Organization champ).
After the fight, Jacobs expressed a desire to fight Alvarez, who recently dethroned unified middleweight champion Golovkin.
With last Saturday’s victory, Jacobs is now a two-time middleweight champion and can look forward to some big paydays.
Ralph Rimpel can be reached at Rluvsboxing@aol.com. Photographer William Thomas can be reached at photosbythomas4@aol.com.
