Boxing Preview, 12th February
Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images
A lighter weekend this time out, but we do have one big card, a DAZN show from the UK topped by Danny Jacobs vs. John Ryder. That might well be a better fight than many seem to be predicting, and has some able support. Let’s take a look.
Danny Jacobs vs. John Ryder
A first glance at their history suggests this super-middleweight clash should be all Danny Jacobs. Ryder has rarely fought, and never won, against world level opponents, with some of the five losses on his record coming at British level against opponents who never came close to stepping up. Jacobs has three losses of his own, but all were against elite opponents, and he’s been competing and winning at an international level for a long time now. Even keeping in mind that records aren’t everything, matchups with that kind of experience disparity are rarely competitive.
In reality, however, this could well be closer than that. Jacobs hasn’t fought since 2020, and that fight was a very controversial win against an aging and undersized Gabriel Rosado. His levels have tended to fluctuate from opponent to opponent, and if he’s not at his most focused or rusty after the layoff, he could find himself in trouble. Ryder has improved fairly strongly since his last legitimate loss, to Rocky Fielding in 2017, and definitely didn’t deserve to lose the decision to Callum Smith two years later. Admittedly, his performances since then haven’t been anything to write home about either, but he never looked close to losing either.
Stylistically, this will most likely be a game of Ryder pressing, trying to get past Jacobs’ jab and close off his movement. At his best, the American has shown he can be very good at those two things, giving Golovkin some real problems and making Canelo work - but he doesn’t seem to be at that level anymore, and Ryder is much closer to him in reach than either of those men to boot. The problems he had against Rosado won’t be a 1 for 1 insight into what might happen here, since Rosado spent much of the fight able to bait Jacobs onto the front foot, which Ryder will be unlikely to do, but a real problem for Jacobs there was a lack of defensive instinct of any kind in mid- and close-range exchanges, and some oddly poor decision-making where he’d choose to cut across the smallest space in the ring rather than continually moving into the space Rosado was leaving. Either of those two issues resurfacing could cause issues, especially if Ryder really commits to closing space fast. Additionally, while Ryder won’t fully fight on the back foot, he did have some of his successes against Smith by letting the taller man come forward with a jab then stepping in as he withdrew it, something he may be able to replicate here.
That said, don’t mistake this for a ringing pick for Ryder. For all his improvements, he still has a fairly limited game, especially in regards to his punch selection, which will make it harder for him to exploit those weaknesses at close range before Jacobs gets out of there.He also tends to attack mostly in straight lines, which again will make Jacobs’ defensive job less tricky. Ultimately this will end up a game of timing, of how quickly Jacobs can respond to Ryder’s moves, and will be a test of his sharpness.
Felix Cash vs. Magomed Madiev
This one, taking place at middleweight, could be a sleeper. Cash at 28 is no longer really a prospect, but he has quietly worked his way to being a very impressive fighter on the British scene with good views to be competitive at world level. His opponent Madiev is not at this point well known, but he is a well-schooled, clever fighter in his own right, and this fight could well end up being a high-level decider for who first gets to kick on to challenge for those straps.
Stylistically, they have their similarities. Both are front-foot fighters for preference, but patient, not swarmers. Both are reasonably responsible defensively but with exploitable gaps as they throw and sometimes when they exit, and both are good at set-up and diversion to disguise their main avenue of attack. What that ultimately means is this will likely be a tactical game of trying to lure the opponent to show their weakness- but tactical doesn’t have to mean slow, and this should be a reasonably high-volume, if not fiery, contest.
Where Cash probably does have the advantage is that Madiev, while as mentioned patient at building up, is sometimes prone to squaring up at the last approach, something Cash doesn’t do and might be able to counter. He’s also better at close range and in the clinch, somewhere Madiev doesn’t really engage, preferring to disengage if a fight looks like getting there. On the other hand, Madiev’s jab and proactive lateral movement at mid-range might be the better of the two, which may allow him an advantage in controlling the tempo of the fight. This is a really tough one to call, and definitely worth looking out for.
The Rest
The last featured fight is a women’s super-bantamweight contest between Ellie Scotney and Jorgelina Guanini. The latter is far the more experienced of the two, having fought at international level for a while now, but while she moves fairly neatly she gets very sloppy when she throws, so Scotney’s more compact and consistent form and smarter selection of punches should see her through. Beyond that, there’s a raft of prospects, with Ammo Williams at middleweight and Hopey Price at super-bantam in particular having some eyes on them.