By Norm Frauenheim-
PHOENIX – Danny Jacobs is moving up. But not on.
Jacobs will wear his feelings for an absent friend Friday night when he enters the ring for his first fight at a heavier weight against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. at Talking Stick Arena. You’ll see them on his robe. You’ll see them on his trunks.
All Day
Patrick Day
Those are the words, inscribed near the top and near the bottom of a robe that Jacobs had specially made for his first bout since Day died four days after suffering brain trauma during a fight in Chicago on Oct. 12.
“The robe is symbolic of what he meant to me,” Jacobs said when he introduced the robe and trunks he plans to give to Day’s family after the DAZN-streamed bout.
In addition to All Day, Patrick Day, the white robe with blue stitching includes a picture of the middleweight, a Rest in Paradise inscription and the dates, 1992-2019, of a life that ended too early.
For a while, his grief for Day was more than just a symbol. It hurt. It made him wonder.
“Boxing is not the same,’’ Jacobs said when the fight against Chavez Jr. was announced.
Grief lingers. Perhaps, it always will. But Jacobs is also prepared to re-enter the ring and confront the dangers that killed a friend. In part, the robe helps him remember a fighter and friend who did what he loved despite the risk.
“I know he would want me to not be sad, to be an inspiration in the ring,’’ Jacobs said. “That’s who he was. We sparred numerous times in the ring, spent countless hours together.
“He was a beautiful person, and I know he would want me to keep moving forward.”
Moving forward every day, All Day.
Notes: Jacobs (35-3, 29 KOs) and Chavez (51-3-1, 33 KOs) had agreed to a super-middleweight fight. However, the contract was re-negotiated Thursday morning when Chavez realized he couldn’t make the mandated weight. He was nearly five over the 168-limit at 272.7. Jacobs weighed 167.9.
In the re-done deal, they agreed to a catch-weight, a 173-pound fight. But it cost Chavez plenty. According to multiple sources at the morning weigh-in, Chavez agreed to pay Jacobs $1 million.
According to contracts filed with the Arizona Boxing & MMA Commission, Jacobs and Chavez had equal purses, $2 million each. With the redone deal, however, Jacobs will walk away with $3 million and Chavez Jr. $1 million.
