Former world titleholder Daniel Jacobs has officially reached an agreement with John Ryder for a February 12 super middleweight fight that will headline on DAZN, airing live from London. Reports surfaced last week regarding the plans but it appears to have now gotten over the finish line.
The 35-year-old Jacobs will be going on the road for this fight and hasn’t been in the ring since a split decision victory over Gabriel Rosado in November 2020, having sat out of action for the entirety of this year.
Jacobs, who will be 35 on fight night, will be competing at 168 pounds for the third time since he lost his 160-pound title to Canelo Alvarez in 2019. The Brooklynite’s résumé also includes a close decision loss to Gennadiy Golovkin.
For an older fighter like Jacobs there will be real questions about his form and potential ring rust, and those are probably fair questions considering we’ve likely already seen the best of what Jacobs has to offer.
John Ryder, 33, may not really be a world level talent — which in fairness is not the level Jacobs is contending at himself at this point — but he has been a little more active as he scored a stoppage over Jozef Jurko this past September.
Ryder (30-5, 17 KOs) dropped a controversial decision to Callum Smith in a November 2019 title fight that greatly improved his stock. As a London native Ryder will also have the backing of his hometown mass, which could just urge him on to put on a big performance.
