Listen Now:
By: William Holmes
Eddie Hearn promoted Daniel Jacobs at the Barclays Center in his hometown of Brooklyn, New York tonight on the HBO network.
Three major fight cards were shown on US Television tonight, with the HBO show being broadcast last.
Photo Credit: HBO Boxing Twitter Account
Attendance looked sparse at the beginning of the telecast as Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller (20-0-1) took in Johan Duhaupas (37-4) in a WBA Heavyweight Title Eliminator.
Miller weighed in at 304 pounds and was able to easily walk Duhaupas down in the opening rounds. He connected with two good overhand rights in the first that forced Duhaupas to cover up.
Miller continued to walk Duhaupas down in the second round and was able to land some heavy uppercuts on Duhaupas by the ropes. Miller was warned to keep his punches up when he landed a shot below the belt in the second round.
Duhaupas was able to land some short combinations in the middle of the ring in the third round but Miller took those shots well and landed several good short shots.
Miller had Duhaupas stunned in the fifth round when he momentarily switched to a southpaw stance. Miller’s controlled the pace and distance in the sixth and seventh rounds, but Duhaupas was able to show enough offense in the eighth round to maybe steal it form Miller.
Miller looked like he was slowing down a little bit in the ninth and tenth rounds but tagged Duhaupas several times in the eleventh round and looked close to knocking him down.
Duhaupas was a little hesitant to come out for the final round but did so at his corner’s urging. He was far too behind to win by decision in the final round and looked like he was trying to survive rather than trying to win as the fight came to an end.
Jarrell Miller wins by unanimous decision with scores of 119-109, 119-109, and 117-111.
The main event of the night was between Daniel Jacobs (33-2) and Maciej Sulecki (26-0) in a WBA Middleweight Eliminator.
The crowd was very vocal throughout this fight and Jacobs looked like the bigger fighter in the ring as Sulecki has spent a lot of his career fighting in the junior middleweight division.
Sulecki showed good upper body movement early on and was able to land a solid straight right hand on Jacobs when he switched to a southpaw stance in the second round.
Jacobs connected with a good hook/uppercut combination in the third round and was getting his timing down better. His shoulder roll defense was working for him and Jacobs ended the third round strong.
Jacobs landed a strong left hook at the end of the fourth round and his cross arm defense was giving Sulecki fits in the fifth round.
Sulecki however remained slick throughout and may have stolen the seventh or eighth rounds, but he wasn’t throwing combinations and seemed ok with landing one to two punches at a time while Jacobs was more likely to throw combinations.
Jacobs hand speed was more apparent in the later rounds though he was getting hit by Sulecki. Jacobs focused more on the body in the tenth and eleventh rounds.
There were a lot of swing rounds in the middle rounds, but Jacobs saved his best round for last when he connected with a combination ending right hand that sent Sulecki to the mat. Sulecki was able to beat the count and end the fight swinging, but Jacobs appeared to have done enough to win the fight.
The judges scored it 116-111, 117-110 and 115-112 for Daniel Jacobs.
