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Even Gabe Rosado thinks Daniel Jacobs beat John Ryder.
Rosado, who lost a controversial split decision to Jacobs in November 2020, stated during DAZN’s post-fight coverage Saturday night that Jacobs was “robbed” in that streaming service’s main event from Alexandra Palace in London. Ryder defeated Jacobs by split decision in what was a very competitive 12-round, WBA 168-pound elimination match.
British judge Marcus McDonnell scored Jacobs the winner, 115-113. The two other judges, Monaco’s Jean-Robert Laine and American Mike Fitzgerald, scored their 12-rounder the same way, 115-113, for Ryder.
“Yeah, it’s hilarious,” Rosado said in reference to him having Jacobs winning. “You know, I had him winning the fight. And, you know, he got robbed. You know, that’s how I feel. But, you know, he knows how I feel now. Jacobs knows how I feel now.”
In Jacobs’ previous fight, another 12-round super middleweight match, two judges – Florida’s Fernando Barbosa and California’s Michael Tate – scored him a 115-113 winner over Rosado. The other judge, Florida’s Fred Fluty, credited Rosado with a 115-113 win in a main event DAZN streamed from Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
On Saturday night, CompuBox counted 12 more punches overall for Ryder than Jacobs (135-of-448 to 123-of-651). According to CompuBox, Ryder landed more power punches (121-of-279 to 94-of-286) and Jacobs connected on more jabs (29-of-365 to 14-of-169).
“Look, I’m not saying it’s like a wide type of [fight],” Rosado said. “You know, the fight was close. There were certain rounds I thought were close, but I gave the rounds to Jacobs. The close rounds, I gave them to Jacobs because he’s the former two-time world champion and I felt that Ryder had to do more to get those rounds.”
Brooklyn’s Jacobs boxed well at times and got off to a solid start in the first fight in 14 months for the 35-year-old former IBF middleweight champion. London’s Ryder rallied early in the second half of their 12-rounder, including a strong showing during a one-sided eighth round, when he hurt a fading Jacobs.
“I thought that if Jacobs boxed and Ryder allowed it to be a chess match that it would favor Jacobs,” Rosado said. “And whenever the fight got rough, I feel that it would favor Ryder. And whenever Ryder backed him up and applied pressure, he got the best of it. You know, he took, I think he took round 10 off, which I felt he should’ve kept that momentum going, because it looked like he could possibly stop Jacobs. But it was a good fight.”
Though he believes Jacobs (37-4, 30 KOs) deserved to win, Philadelphia’s Rosado (26-14-1, 15 KOs, 1 NC) expressed interest in fighting Ryder (31-5, 17 KOs) after the 33-year-old southpaw pulled off a slight upset. Rosado, 36, plans to move back up to the super middleweight division for his next fight after dropping a 12-round unanimous decision in a middleweight match to Jaime Munguia (38-0, 30 KOs) on November 13 at Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.