LAS VEGAS -- As the days draw closer to the biggest fight of his career, Daniel Jacobs has made it a point to avoid at all costs dipping into any negative energy that might unnecessarily rob him of much-needed good vibes.
Jacobs (35-2, 29 KOs), who will defend his IBF middleweight title against WBA, WBC and lineal champion Canelo Alvarez on Saturday (DAZN, 9 p.m. ET) at T-Mobile Arena, has even gone as far as flying in his full-time yoga instructor ahead of the fight to help with meditation and channeling out negativity.
Sitting down with reporters during a media roundtable before Wednesday's final press conference, the 32-year-old Jacobs was the personification of chill. Decked out in a track suit and dark shades, he effortlessly avoided difficult questions as if he was slipping punches inside the ring by downplaying the impact of anything negative that was thrown his way.
"I don't really feed into anything other than the positive -- what I've done inside the ring, what I've done with preparation, my game plan with my team that we've formulated," Jacobs said. "All the odds, the he say, she say, I keep it to a minimum. I just focus on what the job has to be and that's to be victorious Saturday night."
In the months that led up to the fight, Jacobs had sung a very different tune depending upon the day. While critics have largely handicapped the bout as 50-50 on paper, there's no question in anyone's mind who the A-side of the promotion is.
Alvarez (51-1-2, 35 KOs), the biggest pay-per-view brand in North America and arguably the sport's biggest star globally, enters his first fight of PPV quality after signing a landmark 10-bout, $365 million deal last fall with DAZN, the all-sports streaming app whose advertising hook has surrounded its intentions to kill traditional PPV.
As the unquestioned bigger name and more lucrative draw, Alvarez has flexed his muscles in ways that play to his advantage, including a mandatory rematch clause only if Jacobs wins. Because of that, a pair of topics have dominated the narrative since the fight was first announced: Alvarez's insistence that Jacobs accept a 170-pound rehydration clause and the Mexican star's decorated history of getting preferential treatment from the judges in all of his big fights.
Asked about the rehydration clause in February, Jacobs called it "very insulting" and accused both Alvarez and promoter Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy for operating "not in the essence of boxing." But on Wednesday, Jacobs had seemingly put the issue behind him. In fact, he made sure to hammer home how little of an issue it actually was.
"I don't know if we would have gotten the fight if we didn't accept the terms that Golden Boy had sent out," Jacobs said. "Plus, this is not something that I'm not unfamiliar with.
"I wasn't insulted at all, no. I kind of knew it and was actually kind of expecting it."
Respect box? Subscribe to my podcast -- In This Corner with Brian Campbell -- where we take an in-depth look at the world of boxing each week.
Jacobs, a large middleweight who cuts a large amount of weight to make 160 pounds, will need to weigh in a second time on Saturday morning at 8 a.m. and will face steep financial penalties -- rumored to be $300,000 per pound -- should he be over the rehydration limit of 170.
Last October, Jacobs captured a vacant world title when he edged Sergiy Derevyanchenko by split decision and was forced to adhere to the IBF's similar rehydration limit for title fights. The rule doesn't apply to unification bouts, however, which is why Alvarez so deftly negotiated the clause in hoping he might gain an advantage that Jacobs says isn't there.
"We did this in my last fight and I physically felt great," Jacobs said. "We followed the 10-pound rules and we still came in the fight the weight that we wanted to come in. It's just that the day before we have to still be on a diet but it's not a bad thing. The 10-pound rule is not the worst thing they could have thrown at me."
Jacobs believes the rehydration idea was hatched by Golden Boy after it caught wind of what he says is a bad rumor regarding his disputed 2017 decision loss to former unified champion Gennady Golovkin. Jacobs strategically blew off the IBF's second-day weigh in, making him ineligible at the time to compete for GGG's IBF title. But he disputes the "lie" that he came in unofficially at 185 pounds on fight night.
"When I fought Golovkin, there was this whole big thing -- that was a lie -- that I came in at 185 pounds and that was the reason I was able to do so well," Jacobs said. "But if you guys know boxing, you know a fighter gaining 25 pounds in less than 24 hours can't perform the way that I performed and can't move and be sharp like I was in the Golovkin fight. I'm here to not only kill that but to let the fans know that I can follow the rules and can come into a fight at a comfortable weight, and I don't need any advantages beyond the skills that I have for myself."
Jacobs is also well aware of the judging narrative that saw Alvarez get the benefit of the doubt in close wins over Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara before earning both a split draw and a majority decision in all-action fights against Golovkin that most experts felt GGG had won both.
In recent months, Jacobs' tone has also changed from concern to confidence. He fought publicly against the Nevada State Athletic Commission for including Adalaide Byrd (the judge whose inexplicable Alvarez-Golovkin I scorecard was widely derided) as a potential candidate for Saturday. He also spoke out against her husband, Hall of Famer Robert Byrd, as a potential referee by citing their negative history.
On Wednesday, however, Jacobs completely downplayed the entire subject and labeled activity as the key to sway the judges in his favor. If he could attempt 100 punches per round against Alvarez, he expects to win and believes he learned from a close decision loss to Golovkin that he believes the judges got wrong.
"I have to go in there and win a fight decisively. I don't want no controversy. I want to be victorious, and I want all the fans to know I'm the best middleweight in the world," Jacobs said.
"I think the key for me is setting the tone early, fighting my form and style and adjusting it.
"I don't think we need to be who we are not inside that ring and try to perform to persuade the crowd or influence the judges. We have fine judges, everything is intact and I think I'll get a fair shake. I think it's just up to me to go inside that ring and perform to complete my destiny."
The destiny Jacobs is referring to surrounds his emotional backstory of having become the first cancer survivor in boxing history to win a world title. Although promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport didn't begin representing Jacobs until his 2017 win over Luis Arias, he remembers watching the Golovkin fight and marveling at Jacobs' story.
"This is a guy who was told he may not walk again and certainly may not fight again," Hearn told CBS Sports in March. "And now he's on the verge of beating the best middleweight in the world. When they were reading out the scorecards [against Golovkin] I was thinking, 'He has got this. The story is too good for him not to get this.' Obviously he didn't get it but could have gotten it.
"But maybe [the Golovkin fight] wasn't [the moment]. Maybe [Saturday] was the moment."
Since Hearn began working with Jacobs, he has been so touched by watching his journey that he believes his fighter is spiritually destined to bring his inspirational story to completion on Saturday. He also has gone as far in earlier interviews to suggesting God wants Jacobs to win.
"I'm not the most religious guy in the world but I remember thinking how this is an incredible story," Hearn said. "He has always said to me, 'Get me the Canelo fight and I promise I will beat him. It's probably the most inspiring boxing story of all-time. This is to beat the very, very best, it's not just to come back to fight again or win a world title. He has done that. To come back from what he suffered from, I always feel like he is a very humble man.
"I don't think he particularly loves talking about what he has done and come back from but from an outsiders point of view, just look at the photos. It was a broken man physically and it's incredible what he is doing."
