Kazakhstan’s Gennady Golovkin will take on American Daniel Jacobs to unify the World Boxing Association, International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Council middleweight titles in New York on March 18.
The highly anticipated unification bout has been in the works for some time, and both fighters tweeted Saturday that a deal had been done and the fight set for Madison Square Garden.
Golovkin, the IBF, WBC and WBA world title-holder tweeted the news himself.
Golovkin, with a record of 36-0 that includes 33 knockouts, is one of the most feared boxers fighting today. He has won 23 straight inside the distance — most recently his brutal stoppage of Kell Brook in Britain in September.
Brook stepped up two weight divisions to face Golovkin, whose rival world middleweight champions had refused to fight him.
Jacobs, 29, won his last outing, a rematch with Sergio Mora, by technical knockout in September. He holds the WBA’s secondary title behind “super world champion” Golovkin and is mandatory challenger at middleweight and boasts a record of 32-1, with 29 knockouts. His lone defeat was a knockout loss to Dmitry Pirog in 2010.
* Agence France-Presse
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