Fight News

Daniel Jacobs will be back in Brooklyn on Saturday night, fighting in front of a home crowd at Barclays Center for the first time in more than two years. He’ll have some company in the hometown favorite category.

Before the former middleweight world champion takes on Maciej Sulecki, fellow Brooklyn native Jarrell Miller will face off against Johann Duhaupas in a heavyweight battle. While Miller is fighting at Barclays Center for the second time – both in the last year – Jacbos is making his sixth appearance in the BROOKLYN BOXING ring, but first since his first-round knockout of Peter Quillin in December 2015.

Both fighters stopped in for a public workout on Wednesday afternoon in the arena’s GEICO Atrium.

“It’s a great comfort,” said Jacobs. “And I think I’m past that point where it brings pressure to me fighting in my hometown. I believe it adds more of a motivation factor than anything to see my family and friends and everyone in the crowd supporting me. To hear that Brooklyn chant, there’s nothing better than that when you’re a Brooklyn guy.”

It’s been 13 months since Jacobs battled Gennady Golovkin for the middleweight world title, taking the unbeaten unified champ the distance for the first time in nine years before dropping a narrow decision. Riding a raft of acclamation for his effort, he returned to the ring in November for a dominant decision over Luis Arias at NYCB LIVE, home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The Arias fight began a new stage for Jacobs with a defined endgame to get another shot at Golovkin and the middleweight world championship. His fight against Sulecki has been declared an eliminator with the winner becoming a mandatory challenger for Golovkin’s WBA belt. But the field is getting crowded. Rising new middleweight Jermall Charlo claimed the WBC interim title with his knockout of Hugo Centeno at Barclays Center last Saturday to become that federation’s mandatory challenger. While Golovkin holds the WBA, WBC and IBF belts, the WBO title belongs to unbeaten Billy Joe Saunders. And Canelo Alvarez, who was supposed to fight Golovkin on May 5 in a rematch of their draw last fall, will be out there again after his six-month suspension concludes.

So Jacobs knows that perception matters and style points matter. He’s already got 29 knockouts among his 33 career wins, but after winning a decision over Arias, he’s looking for No. 30 on Saturday.

“Very high on the list of priorities,” said Jacobs. “The fans want to see knockouts. Obviously the fans love great shows, which I try to put on every time I go out. With the last performance I got a decision, but this one, I want to go for the glory. I want to go for the knockout. Whether it comes, it comes. A victory is assured in my opinion, but at the same time, fans I’ve got to give them what they want. They’re paying customers and they allow us to have the career that we have.”

Miller is building momentum in the heavyweight division, inserting himself in the conversation for a future championship opportunity.

Saturday’s matchup with Duhaupas will be Miller’s third fight in nine months. Before he stopped Gerald Washington in eight rounds at Barclays Center last July, Miller hadn’t fought in a year, and he’d had just 18 fights in his first seven years as a pro. But he quickly followed up that victory with a ninth-round TKO of Mariusz Wach on the undercard of Jacobs’ win at NYCB LIVE on Long Island.

So this will be Miller’s third straight fight hosted by BROOKLYN BOXING. Most significantly, it will be his third straight fight against a former world championship challenger. Duhaupas, with his 37-4 career record, took on Deontay Wilder for the WBC belt in 2015.

Washington had also taken on Wilder, and Wach had fought Wladimir Klitschko for the unified title in 2012.

With his 20-0-1 record, Miller is confident his time has come, and he’s ready for the next big step up – a shot against Wilder or Anthony Joshua. He just needs to take care of business first on Saturday.

“I’m definitely going to test him here and there,” said Miller of the matchup. “Boxing is a feeling out process. You’ve got to give and take a little bit here and there … and when I land a clean shot, we’ll get him out of there. I know I’m going to land some really good shots. My footwork feels phenomenal compared to my last two fights.”

Two-division world champion Danny Garcia has been one of the most significant figures in Barclays Center’s boxing history. Garcia headlined BROOKLYN BOXING’S inaugural fight card in 2012 and has headlined six fight nights at Barclays Center, more than any other boxer. In his most recent fight at Barclays Center, he and Keith Thurman brought in a BROOKLYN BOXING record 16,533 fans for their world welterweight championship unification bout in the highest-grossing non-Nets event in the building’s history. On Saturday night, Garcia held a meet & greet signing session for fans during the Broner vs. Vargas fight card, and spoke with BrooklynBoxing.com:

BROOKLYNBOXING.COM: What brought you up to Brooklyn for tonight’s meet & greet?

DANNY GARCIA: I’ve got to show a lot to my fans in Brooklyn. We just had a meet and greet with the fans, brought some merch for the fans they can buy directly off me. Most important we’re just showing love, signing autographs, and then I’m here to watch the fights.

BKBOX: You’ve fought six times at Barclays Center. Is this building a home for you as a fighter?

DG: This is definitely my home for boxing. I had some big fights, some big defenses. I think I hold the record 16,500! So it’s definitely home.

BKBOX: You’ve done some broadcasting as a fight commentator. How did you get started with that and are you enjoying that work?

DG: It was good. It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I enjoyed it. It was definitely something I’d like to keep doing, something for after boxing. It was cool.

BKBOX: The Philadelphia 76ers are in the playoffs and you were at one of their recent games. As a Philadelphia native, are you a big fan off all the teams there?

DG: I’m a Philly team fan. But definitely, Sixers, Eagles the most. I’m a Sixers guy until I die. It’s a process. Just like anything, you’ve got to build somebody up. But I trust the process. This is going to be a great year for us. We can definitely do it. We’ve got the squad. I’m sitting back and I’m enjoying every moment of it.

BKBOX: Were you surprised the Eagles won the Super Bowl, considering the expectations before the season and then the Carson Wentz injury?

DG: That was a dream come true for me. I always thought, would I ever live to see the Eagles win a Super Bowl, and they did it. I was happy. It was a dream come true for me. I was scared, I’m not going to lie, but certain players are just built for certain moments and Nick Foles was built for that moment. He might not be a good regular season quarterback to get you 12 or 13 wins, but he got us the most important wins.

BKBOX: How did you feel about your most recent fight against Brandon Rios, a ninth-round TKO in Feburary?

DG: I felt good. It was a great performance by me. I went in there, took it one round at a time, I knocked him out in the ninth round. I did what I said I was going to do.

BKBOX: Since that fight, what are you up to now and what are you looking forward to next?

DG: Right now, I’m just relaxing. But I’m still mentally ready to fight whoever. So whenever that phone rights and they say, 'Danny, you’ve got to fight him,' it’s on.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Brooklyn’s own Paulie Malignaggi is a former two-division world champion who has become boxing’s premier analyst as a broadcaster on SHOWTIME. He’ll be at Barclays Center on Saturday night for the BROOKLYN BOXING tripleheader featuring Adrien Broner vs. Jessie Vargas, Jermall Charlo vs. Hugo Centeno and Gervonta Davis. We caught up with Paulie during a meet and greet at Barclays Center’s BROOKLYN BOXING Pop-Up Shop on Friday afternoon to break down Saturday’s fights and more:

BROOKLYNBOXING.COM: Let’s start by breaking down Saturday night’s fights. What do you think of the headline matchup between Adrien Broner and Jessie Vargas?

PAULIE MALIGNAGGI: It’s a very evenly matched fight. Broner is always a kind of guy that will match up well against ex-super lightweights, those type of weights. I think that’s more of his natural size. I think at welterweight he’s kind of undersized and that starts to play a part in the fight. Against ex-super lightweights he’ll have mixed results only because the other guys will also be world class, and not because they’re too big for him. I really do like this fight a lot for both guys. There’s a lot to prove and it gives it a big viewership. A lot of people get hyped up about a fight like this. I think the action is actually going to live up to it too. Broner’s rarely in a bad fight. But Vargas is also not in many bad fights. I think tomorrow you have an evenly matched fight that will also be fun to watch.

BKBOX: What can we look forward to in the Jermall Charlo vs. Hugo Centeno matchup?

PM: Charlo is really ascending at a fast pace. He looks like the goods. Terrific fundamentals and ability with speed, power. Terrific boxing IQ as well. He’s got a great trainer in Ronnie Shields. Centeno though has been up-and-coming and he’s looking better and better himself. This is a chance for Centeno to have a coming out party, but it’s a tough guy to do it against. But Centeno is a guy who’s been looking better and better. He’s with my ex-trainer Eric Brown who I won a world title with. Eric is no stranger to winning fights as the underdog.

BKBOX: How about the former champs Gervonta Davis and Jesus Cuellar?

PM: Davis is naturally bigger. He was almost going to move up to lightweight not that long ago. So I think the size will also play a factor in this fight. Cuellar is a guy who hurts guys at his weight, but will he be able to hurt a naturally bigger guy in Davis who also stylistically, Cuellar has almost this awkward instability to him. He’s kind of raw. He kind of has his weird half-steps. I think that will fall into play with Davis’ speed and explosiveness. It’s going to be interesting because Cuellar’s tough and he’s durable and he hangs in there and sometimes Davis doesn’t like when you do that, when you hang in there. I really think if Davis is on it could be a performance against a world-class fighter who’s just tailor-made for him stylistically and could make him look really good. It will be interesting to see if Cuellar is able to hang around, what Davis goes for then.

BKBOX: You broadcast Jarrett Hurd’s super welterweight unification split decision win over Erislandy Lara earlier this month. What did you think of the fight?

PM: It was a great fight. I almost felt bad somebody had to lose it. That 12^th-round knockdown Hurd really went and got it and it showed that’s why you fight the 12^th round so hard, why you’ve got to make sure to close out the show. On the scorecards it wound up being the difference in the fight. It was a fight of the year candidate with a big finish. You can’t really complain about it. I would love to see a rematch. It would be a great fight between two guys that really deserve to be linked together in a fight of the year candidate, and hopefully people will remember that fight for a long time.

BKBOX: Unbeaten Jermell Charlo holds the WBC belt in that division and fights former champ Austin Trout in June. What do you think is next for the super welterweight division?

PM: It still has to be shaken out. I think it shakes out in that they’ve all got to fight each other. Hopefully you’ll start to see that. You’re starting to see them all fighting each other. You’ve made Hurd and Lara.  You’re starting to make these fights between these guys and they’re starting to take each other on. If we can see these guys match up against one another, that’s kind of the way you want to see it shape up.

BKBOX: You’ve broadcast recent fights featuring both Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder. What do you see coming up in the heavyweight division?

PM: It’s fun. Obviously the pinnacle fight is Joshua vs. Wilder. But other fights in the heavyweight division, you can mix and match guys around and they will be fun to watch. You’ve got guys like Jarrell Miller, Dillian Whyte, you’ve got guys like even Dereck Chisora and Tyson Fury back in England. You’ve got guys hanging around that can make things fun. I think mixing and matching some of these guys, you have a lot of fun fights besides Wilder and Joshua. Obviously we all want to see Wilder and Joshua.

BKBOX: If they do meet up in the next year or so, how would you break down that fight?

PM: These are both guys that are continuing to improve. They’re going through some learning curves. So it’s hard to really say OK, by the time they get in the ring with each other who’s going to win or who’s going to lose. I think there’s things that both guys will do that are strengths, so both guys can win the fight. I’ve broken them down in various interviews. There’s some tactical, fundamental advantages one guy has over the other and some fundamental, tactical advantages the other guy may have. It’s anybody’s fight. They’ve both shown character, which is a good thing.

BKBOX: At welterweight, Keith Thurman holds two belts, Errol Spence Jr. just made his first defense, and Danny Garcia would surely like another title shot. What does the future hold in that division?

PM: Things are sort of settling in. You’re starting to see Spence and Thurman separating themselves from the pack. Right now Errol’s doing all the work. Thurman has been out of action with the injuries. But I think once Thurman gets back in, people will be excited to see him back and they’ll start building toward that Errol Spence fight. It’s very important that people are patient enough to know that it has to happen when both guys are healthy, because otherwise you get a dud of a fight. I’d rather see both guys healthy and really feeling good and hopefully Keith Thurman’s able to come back and be healthy, because Errol’s been looking great in the meantime and Errol will continue to look great in the meantime. I think when you get the combination of the two things it will make for an explosive fight, a fight of the year candidate.

BKBOX: Is there a boxer right now that you would consider the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter, somebody that deserves that designation?

PM: Vasiliy Lomachenko is the best pound-for-pound fighter for me right now. There’s a lot of good fighters. He’s very smart, athletic, cerebral, talented fighter. But of course, weight classes matter. Even for him, weight classes matter. If he bites off more than he could chew, he’s looking at a risk as well. But for me, he’s the pound-for-pound best.

This interview has been edited and condensed for publication.

Brooklyn’s Daniel Jacobs returns to Barclays Center on April 28 to face unbeaten Maciej Sulecki.

This will be the sixth appearance at Barclays Center for the Brownsville native, who appeared on the inaugural BROOKLYN BOXING card in 2012 while making his return to the ring after being diagnosed with cancer and undergoing surgery to remove a tumor.

In 2014, Jacobs captured the WBA middleweight title with a fifth-round knockout of Jarrod Fletcher at Barlcays Center, and in his most recent appearance, faced friend and fellow Brooklynite Peter Quillin in December 2015. Jacobs delivered a stunning first-round knockout of the former WBO champ to win that “Battle for Brooklyn.”

In his most recent fight, Jacobs dominated previously unbeaten Luis Arias in a unanimous decision victory at NYCB LIVE, home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in November 17.

He brings a 33-2 record with 29 KOs into the fight.

“I do believe this gentleman is going to bring a fight,” said Jacobs. “I don’t know if he’s the most polished guy that you’ve seen, but he is skillful. When a guy who has more determination, even if it outweighs skill, nine times out of 10 can get the victory if he’s with a guy that doesn’t take it seriously. But you’re looking at a guy who has a second chance, not only at life but at boxing. So I always make sure I always give my best chance and my best opportunities to myself by preventing guys like this from spoiling the whole situation. I want to be the best. I believe in my mind I am the best middleweight in the world. And it’s about proving it.”

Sulecki, a 28-year-old from Poland, has built his 26-0 record fighting mostly in Europe. He fought in the United States for the first time in 2015 and handed middleweight contender Hugo Centeno Jr. his only loss in June 2016. Sulecki fought previously at Barclays Center in January 2016, defeating Derrick Findley by TKO.

Most recently, Sulecki registered a unanimous decision win over Jack Culcay in Newark in October 2017.

“I have great respect for Danny Jacobs,” said. Sulecki. “This is a very good fighter. But I want to win this fight. This is my big chance. I know that I’ll win this fight. I’m very determined. I know who I am, and I know why I’m here and I’ll show you who I am. I know that you don’t know who I am but after the fight everyone will know who I am, I promise.” 

Also on the card, Brooklyn heavyweight Jarrell Miller former world championship challenger Johann Duhaupas. Miller is 20-0 with 18 KOs after defeating two more former world heavyweight title challengers in his last two fights. In July 2017 he stopped Gerald Washington at Barclays Center, and in November 2017, fighting on the Jacobs card at NYCB LIVE, he knocked out Mariusz Wach.

WBA world lightweight champion Katie Taylor made her U.S. debut at Barclays Center in July 2017 and captured her title three months later. The 2012 Olympic gold medalist from Ireland will take on IBF champion Victoria Noella Bustos in a unification bout.

Adrien Broner has a new opponent, and Jermall Charlo and Hugo Centeno have a new date. They’re joined by Gervonta Davis, who’s in search of a new championship belt, in a loaded BROOKLYN BOXING tripleheader coming to Barclays Center on April 21.

With Jessie Vargas and Jesus Cuellar on the card as well, the evening is filled with championship resumes.

Broner (33-3, 24 KOs), the former four division champion, was originally slated to fight former 135-pound champion Omar Figueroa, who suffered a shoulder injury in training. Both had last fought in July 2017, with Figueroa defeating Robert Guerrero in his first bout in 18 months, and Broner dropped a unanimous decision to unbeaten Mikey Garcia.

In Vargas, Broner gets a tough new challenge. The former WBA world super lightweight champion and WBO world welterweight champion, Vargas has a 28-2 career record with 10 KOs. His only losses have come in welterweight world championship bouts against Timothy Bradley Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.

“This is a fight that should garner a lot of attention from boxing fans and they deserve a fight like this,” said Vargas. “We are two entertaining fighters who come in and give it their all. This is a fight that will have a lot of fireworks. I respect Broner and his skills, but he’s very beatable. The fight was presented to me and I didn’t think twice about taking it.”

Charlo and Centeno were originally scheduled to fight March 3 at Barclays Center as the co-headline bout of the world heavyweight championship main event between Deontay Wilder and Luis Ortiz. A rib injury that Centeno suffered in training delayed this bout for the interim WBC world middleweight title.

Charlo (26-0, 20 KOs) is the former super welterweight champion who moved up to middleweight and debuted with a fourth-round TKO victory over Jorge Sebastian Heiland at Barclays Center last summer. Centeno (26-1, 14 KOs) made a statement last August and elevated himself in the championship contender conversation with a knockout of previously unbeaten contender Immanuwel Aleem.

“I really love fighting in Brooklyn and at Barclays Center,” said Charlo. “The fans in Brooklyn always show me a lot of love. Since my last fight I’ve had a chance to work on my patience and work on improvements to my game. Before the injury to Centeno, I was having the best camp of my life. I’ve got the same feeling that I had before I won my first world title. I want to be a champion at 160 more than I did the first time at 154. Centeno is a tough fighter. He’ll be a hard test but he’s someone who isn’t at my level. I’m not taking anything away from him. But he’s just another fighter that’s in my way.”

Davis (19-0, 18 KOs) was boxing’s youngest world champion when he blitzed Jose Pedraza for the IBF world super featherweight title at Barclays Center in January 2017. He followed up with stoppages of Liam Walsh and Francisco Fonseca over the next seven months, but was stripped of his title for failing to make weight against Fonseca.

Former champ Cuellar held a 126-pound featherweight title for more than three years until losing a unanimous decision to Abner Mares in December 2016. In his first fight since then, Cuellar (28-2, 21 KOs) moves up to 130 pounds to face Davis for the vacant WBA super world super featherweight belt.

“The time I’ve had off since the Mares fight has refreshed me for this new opportunity,” said Cuellar. “It took a lot out of my body to make 126 pounds for all of those years. Now I feel fresher and hungrier than ever before. I’ve been offered fights against lesser opponents in the last year but I’ve preferred to wait a little longer so that I can get a chance to fight the best. Gervonta Davis is one of the best in the world, so he’s the one I want to face and beat. Davis has never faced a fighter like me and he will see me at my very best on April 21.”