Anthony Dirrell vs. Badou Jack: This Friday Premiere Boxing Champions, known to boxing heads as PBC, returns to Spike. Even the most cynical of people would have to appreciate this care because it features two title holders who both have beat cancer at a young age. One of those fighters is the undefeated Anthony Dirrell (27-0-1, 22 KO). Dirrell will be taking on the Floyd Mayweather promoted Badou Jack (18-1-1, 12 KO) who is 2-0 with 1 knockout after suffering a stunning 1st round knockout to Derek Edwards in 2014. The two prizefighters are scheduled to go 12 rounds in the super middleweight division for Dirrell's WBC title. Dirrell is an orthodox fighter with good offensive skills. He likes to fight on the inside and flashes a good left hook and right hand. Dirrell also has a quality jab but he doesn't use it as often as he should. The cancer survivor always puts in good body work and also has a nice uppercut to go along with his other weapons. While fans will usually see Dirrell as an orthodox fighter he can also switch to southpaw and find success. Jack is also an orthodox fighter who also carries a nice left hook. However, the right hand of Jack isn't as good as Dirrell's although he does have a much better jab. While Jack does show some solid footwork he is vulnerable on defense and usually eats a lot of clean punches, which got him knocked out against Edwards. One difference in this fight is experience. Jack's best opponent was probably Marco Antonio Periban who he fought to a draw. Periban is a fighter who has lost to Sakio Bika, the best fighter Dirrell has faced. Dirrell fought Bika twice, getting a draw, and then beating the veteran with a decisive unanimous decision. While Jack is a quality fighter he seems to be a step behind Dirrell who will get the win by the way of unanimous decision.
Daniel Jacobs vs. Caleb Truax: The other cancer survivor on Spike's PBC card will be Daniel Jacobs (28-1, 25 KO) whose cancer left his paralyzed for a short time. Jacobs will be in the ring against the fading prospect Caleb Truax (25-1-2, 15 KO) in a 12 round bout for Jacobs' WBA "regular" middleweight title. Jacobs was a rising prospect who looked like he was on the verge of becoming a contender when he lost to Dmitry Pirog via 5th round stoppage. It was viewed as a bad loss at the time but in short order Pirog proved himself to be a great fighter who unfortunately had to retire due to injuries. Truax who was once viewed as a top prospect has slipped in recent years following losses to a way past his prime Jermain Taylor and a draw against the 11-loss Ossie Duran. Jacobs is an orthodox fighter with a solid jab he will double, and sometimes triple up. Jacobs also has a nice left hook he can land up or downstairs to go along with that jab and a solid right hand to back that up. At the age of 31, Truax will probably never reach the heights some once thought he would. That doesn't mean however, that Truax isn't a tough night or work for most fighters. Truax is an orthodox fighter without very fast hands and he seems to do everything well but nothing great. Traux's left hook is a decent weapon but he doesn't carry big time power and his jab is too slow to be a real danger. A few years ago this might have looked like a toss up fight, but this Friday it will be clear who the better fighter is as Jacobs gets the unanimous decision victory.
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