"The Miracle Man"

Daniel “The Miracle Man” Jacobs

Daniel Jacobs is one of the finest professional boxers in the game right now, competing in the stacked middleweight division with fighters like Gennady Golovkin and Canelo. Daniel Jacobs has faced adversity like anyone else on this planet but his story in particular is nothing short of amazing. In 2011 Daniel was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma, a life-threatening form of bone cancer that left him partially paralyzed with a softball-sized tumor that was wrapped around his spine. His doctor told him that if he lived, he would not be able to walk, let alone box again. But Jacobs did what he did best and that was to fight. The treatment was successful, and sent the cancer into remission, but it did not come cheaply. Him and his girlfriend Natalie, had to sell their house in order to afford the treatment. Daniel’s recovery, however, did shock his doctor and affirmed that the Brownsville native would be able to box again.

With a need for money, Daniel was now fighting both for pride and for his family. He stepped back into the ring and after two tune up fights, he fought to become the middleweight champion after 19 months on the sidelines. He won in front of his home fans in Brooklyn against Australian Jarrod Fletcher to become the first ever cancer survivor to be crowned as world champion. After 4 title defenses including a TKO victory over highly regarded Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin he stepped up to fight one of his toughest tests yet, middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin who is amongst the pound for pound best. Jacobs was applauded for his performance that night in Madison Square Garden, boxing’s holy ground, battling back from a knockdown and giving Golovkin his toughest fight yet. Many fans and analysts thought the fight was close but ultimately Golovkin won and retained all of his belts. Just another page in the story for Daniel, this performance only raised his stock higher and made many boxing fans respect his ability and grit.

A few months later, Jacobs announced on an HBO broadcast that he had signed with promoter Eddie Hearn and signed a deal to fight on HBO. His next opponent was Cuban-American prospect Luis Arias who was undefeated going into the fight. I was fortunate enough to see Daniel’s fight that night in Long Island and sat amongst his family and friends cheering him on. The support he received was unbelievable, from his friends telling him what punches to throw, to his girlfriend telling him to stop making her nervous and beat the guy already, and then to his 11 year old son who was a crowd favorite because of his trash talk towards Luis Arias. Daniel cruised to a unanimous decision victory looking sharp in the process. When he was announced as the winner he pointed to a gentleman in the crowd and said, “That’s the doctor who saved my life!” He then looked over at his family and blew a kiss at them. His close friends comically gestured to him to get his attention and they shared a laugh. HBO analyst Max Kellerman then pulled Jacobs’ aside to have him answer a few questions and the first one was “Daniel how do you feel right now?” Jacobs answered, “life is blissful right now, I’m living in my dreams.”

Daniel Jacobs loves telling his story of battling back from cancer when all odds were stacked up against him. He always says he will never get tired of telling his story because there will always be someone who never heard it. Jacobs wants his survival of cancer to be inspiration for people everywhere, cancer patients and other people alike. With his new TV deal with HBO and the prospect of fighting many of the top fighters in the world, I believe the world will be hearing a lot more about Daniel Jacobs and his story of triumph in the coming years.