Boxing: Jacobs edges Derevyanchenko to win IBF middleweight title

NEW YORK (AP) -- Danny Jacobs won the IBF middleweight title Saturday night, pulling out a thrilling split decision over Sergiy Derevyanchenko.

Jacobs scored a first-round knockdown and that helped him build just enough of a lead to hold on in a tight finish in which both fighters were swinging wildly across the late rounds.

He won 115-112 on two judges' cards, while Derevyanchenko won 114-113 on the other card.

"Hats off to Sergiy. I knew he was a true competitor," Jacobs said. "I knew he was going to be hard so I had to dig deep."

The Associated Press scored it 114-113 for Jacobs.

Jacobs (35-2, 29 KOs) took the belt that was vacated when Gennady Golovkin chose not to fight Derevyanchenko, his mandatory challenger, this spring while awaiting his rematch with Canelo Alvarez.

Alvarez won that bout and now Jacobs said that's the fight he wants next.

Derevyanchenko (12-1) fell just short in his long-awaited first shot at a title.

He wanted it in the spring but Golovkin wouldn't face Derevyanchenko, his mandatory challenger, when he searched for another opponent after Alvarez's failed drug test caused the original date for their rematch to be scrapped.

Derevyanchenko showed why even Golovkin wouldn't have wanted him, landing big shots to Jacobs' body in the middle rounds and just missing with some to the head that could have done major damage later.

"Sergiy is one of toughest and most skillful I've ever been in with," Jacobs said. "He's been avoided but I wanted to fight him for the strap. I needed that strap to get the bigger fights. It's risk and reward."

He did just enough to hold off the hard-charging Ukrainian in a finish that had fans in the crowd of 4,691 inside the Theater at Madison Square Garden standing and chanting at the end.

"It was a very close fight," Derevyanchenko said. "I knew that the knockdown could come back to bite me."

Jacobs' win capped what's been a flurry of activity in the 160-pound division over the last seven weeks. Alvarez has two of the major belts after edging Golovkin last month, and Demetrius Andrade won the other last week.

Jacobs, who lost narrowly to Golovkin here last year, made it clear he wants Alvarez next.

"The fans want it," Jacobs said. "Now I have the strap, let's do it. I'd rematch Triple G but he's not a champion. I want the champs."

Jacobs and Derevyanchenko share a manager, have worked with the same trainers and sparred against each other in Brooklyn. Jacobs said it would be bittersweet working against people he'd known for so long.

Their familiarity may have caused a cautious beginning, with neither throwing a punch in the opening half-minute as they sized up each other. Jacobs got aggressive later in the round and scored a knockdown when Derevyanchenko's gloves touched the canvas after Jacobs' overhand right along the ropes.

But Derevyanchenko rallied nicely and caught Jacobs with a good left hook in the second, fought well again in the third and both connected well in the fourth. They both landed and missed with wild punches in a back-and-forth sixth, each shaking his head during the round to show he had taken a good punch.

But Jacobs had a quickness advantage and was able to move away from some of Derevyanchenko's hardest shots when it appeared he was going to be trapped in a corner, sometimes even switching to a southpaw stance to slip away from trouble.

But Derevyanchenko kept coming and started catching Jacobs again in the later rounds.

"It was a great fight, he's a tremendous competitor and I'd like to fight him again soon," Derevyanchenko said.