John Ryder’s win over Daniel Jacobs won’t go down without any controversy or debate, but in the end, he got the split decision in their WBA super middleweight eliminator in a strangely compelling fight that looked one-sided early but became a lot more interesting in the middle rounds.
Ryder (31-5, 17 KO) won two cards on scores of 115-113, with Jacobs (37-4, 30 KO) taking the other card, also at 115-113. The British judge, Marcus McDonnell, was the one who scored the fight for Jacobs, while Monaco’s Jean-Robert Laine and Mike Fitzgerald of the United States had it for Ryder.
Jacobs, who hadn’t fought since a dreadfully dull win over Gabe Rosado in late 2020, appeared to get off to a great start, winning at least five of the first six rounds, and Ryder’s only argument in any of those coming in the first, which was pretty tentative both ways, a truly feeling-out opener.
But Ryder started getting good work done late in the sixth, too, and took that momentum into the next round. Ryder was able to wobble the 35-year-old Jacobs at a couple points, and was able to take the momentum in a big way, clawing back into a fight that appeared pretty hopeless, as Jacobs started to look mentally lost at points.
But Jacobs did fight better as the bout became a war of attrition late, too, and it’s not hard to have scored two of the final three rounds for him. I had the fight 116-112 for Jacobs, but two of three judges just didn’t see it that way. To me, it’s very hard to find seven rounds in this fight for Ryder, but that’s just my opinion, too, and I think you have to give credit to both guys here, Ryder for never giving up on the task at hand and making it a conversation, and Jacobs for rebounding some after it looked like he’d really fallen to pieces.
The result is an upset, though not a huge one. Jacobs was at -160 on DraftKings Sportsbook, with Ryder at +130 coming in. We did wind up seeing a fight that reflected those odds, however winding the road to get there.
“It feels like a coming-out party after 12 years in the game,” Ryder said. “I feel I won the cards. It was nip-and-tuck the first couple rounds, but I feel I nicked a few of the early ones, and I thought it was quite convincing.”
“If Canelo wants to fight in the UK, he’s got the perfect opponent,” promoter Eddie Hearn said. “John Ryder just beat Daniel Jacobs tonight. It was his attrition that got him through that fight, his desire to win that fight. He’s been on the end of a lot of bad decisions. Tonight was a very close fight, could have gone either way, but it was one that went his way.”
Ryder will be a huge darkhorse to land a fight with Canelo, thought Alvarez has definitely stated his desire to fight in the UK before, and at 168, Ryder would be the logical choice for sure in that situation.
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What a finish to the round from John Ryder 🔥#JacobsRyder pic.twitter.com/iBrvRuqJBV
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) February 12, 2022
