Last summer, Daniel Jacobs and Sergio Mora gave fight fans two thrilling rounds of action, but the bout really didn't come to a natural resolution. Both men intend to settle that score in about a month.
Daniel Jacobs stands over Sergio Mora after a second-round knockdown last August. Mora broke his right ankle while falling to the canvas and was unable to continue, giving Jacobs a TKO victory. (Lucas Noonan/Premier Boxing Champions)
In a highly anticipated rematch, Daniel Jacobs (31-1, 28 KOs) will defend his 160-pound crown against Sergio Mora (28-4-2, 9 KOs) on September 9 in one of two title fights from Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania (Spike, 9 p.m. ET/PT).
Prior to Jacobs-Mora, Robert Easter Jr. (17-0, 14 KOs) and Richard Commey (24-0, 22 KOs) will battle for a vacant 135-pound title.
Jacobs and Mora engaged in a classic firefight on August 1, 2015, with both men hitting the deck in the opening round—Mora falling first courtesy of a right hand, followed by Jacobs going down from a big left.
The heated action continued into Round 2, with Jacobs scoring a second knockdown right before the bell. However, as he fell awkwardly to the canvas, Mora fractured his ankle and was unable to continue. Because the injury occurred as a result of a knockdown, Jacobs was declared the winner by technical knockout—a result that didn’t sit well with Mora.
A 35-year-old from Los Angeles, Mora spent the better part of the last year recovering from the injury, all the while calling on Jacobs to give him a rematch. Finally, Jacobs agreed to the request, he says for no other reason to silence “The Latin Snake.”
“This is business for me, but it is also more personal than any fight I have ever had,” said Jacobs, who followed up the Mora victory with December’s stunning 85-second knockout of previously unbeaten Peter Quillin in a battle of Brooklyn, New York-based fighters. “Sergio has been using these antics online to get this rematch, and he has gotten under my skin.
“There has been a lot of back and forth as far as people’s opinions as to who would have won the fight had he not gotten hurt. I am looking at this as an opportunity to clarify that I am the real champion. I want to shut his trap.”
Including the victories over Mora and Quillin, Jacobs is riding a streak of 11 consecutive stoppages—including seven straight TKO triumphs—since suffering his lone loss to Dmitry Pirog in July 2010.
With the rematch against Mora, the 29-year-old Jacobs will be making the fourth defense of the 160-pound title he won in August 2014 with a fifth-round TKO of Jerrod Fletcher.
Mora, a onetime world titleholder at 154 pounds, had a five-fight winning streak snapped with the loss to Jacobs. Although this will represent just his second bout since February 2015, Mora says he's confident that with his ankle healthy, he’ll finish the job he started last summer.
“I don’t think Jacobs wanted this rematch, but it was destined to happen and now he has to deal with it,” Mora said. “I thought the first fight was going my way. I knocked him down in the first round and was outboxing him in the second round. He knows that I have enough power to hurt him.
“He has more to worry about going into this fight than in the first fight. Look at my résumé—I have fought solid opposition. Jacobs doesn’t have that type of résumé.”
The co-main event will feature a pair of unbeaten sluggers competing in their first world title fight.
An accomplished amateur who was a 2012 U.S. Olympic alternate, Easter has rocketed up the 135-pound rankings during the past 2½ years, during which he’s recorded more than half (nine) of his victories. The most recent was a fifth-round stoppage of former champion Algenis Mendez on April 1 in Washington, D.C.
It was Easter’s fifth straight stoppage win—all inside of six rounds—and now the 25-year-old native of Toledo, Ohio, will be facing an undefeated opponent for the first time as a pro.
Like Easter, Commey—a 29-year-old from Accra, Ghana—is in the midst of a five-fight stoppage streak, including a second-round TKO of Anzor Gamgebeli on March 19.
Check out our fight pages for complete coverage of both Jacobs vs Mora and Easter vs Commey.
