The IBF title will not be available for Daniel Jacobs to win tonight it has emerged only on the day of the fight in what appears to be a big blunder from Jacobs’ team.
Golovkin currently holds the IBF middleweight world title (160lbs) and will be able to defend it himself tonight (the odds seem to be dropping on Jacobs).
But the IBF title is not going to be on the line for Jacobs unfortunately, as boxing scribe Michael Montero pointed out on Twitter due to the following:
Well ain't that some shit… IBF rehydration rule does apply in unification bouts, Jacobs didn't show. #GGGJacobs #boxing #ThePlotThickens pic.twitter.com/fSQDoPZklD
— Michael Montero (@MonteroOnBoxing) March 18, 2017
That will come as a real kick in the teeth no doubt for Jacobs.
For him and his team not to have been aware that the IBF (International Boxing Federation) were implementing the same day weigh-in rule and not turn up for it (or forget to) is a faux pas to put it mildly.
A very strange one too.
As one of the other titles that is on the line tonight, the WBC (World Boxing Council), have been doing regular weight checks from 30 days out from the fight, to 7 days – of which Jacobs was aware of and completed.
A simple miscommunication or not being aware of the rule above by the IBF could likely be the case here by team Jacobs.
It doesn’t take away anything from the fight itself though. One that promises to be one of the most entertaining middleweight championship battles in recent memory.
