Giants' Jacobs uses boxing as motivating force
Jacobs boxed when he was younger, and would consider boxing when his football career is over, according to an interview with concretejournal.com.
Brandon Jacobs came to boxing the way many kids do: as a way to escape street life, channel energy productively and build self-esteem. His uncle Joseph Jacobs loved the sport, pointed his nephew to the gym when Brandon was 8 and lit a competitive spark that carried him all the way to the NFL in his current role as the Giants' power option at running back.
Jacobs is known for his eruptive mood swings in the locker room and on the field, and the mention of boxing flips a switch in Jacobs that starts the positive vibes. He's dedicated to football, but he absolutely loves boxing.
"I think boxing is the best sport in the world," he said recently. Explaining the attraction, he said, "It was an individual sport. You couldn't count on anybody else to bail you out. I like boxing because it's hand-to-hand combat, and it's technical, where you can stand two feet apart and your opponent can't hit you and you can land every punch you want on him. I love that.
"I got in a lot of trouble growing up, even at the young age of 5 or 6. I had a lot of energy just running around everywhere. My uncle figured I ought to find a way to burn it, and that's when I got involved with AAU boxing in Louisiana and fought in tournaments all over the state and the southern region."
It was Jacobs' football skills that took him from Napoleonville, La., to Southern Illinois and eventually put him in position to sign a four-year, $25-million deal with the Giants last year.
But the fighter still dwells within. Jacobs used to spar in the offseason, but he couldn't before this season because he was coming off hand surgery.
If his football career ended today, Jacobs said he'd be in the gym tomorrow. "I do have thoughts of doing that," said one of the few men who might be strong enough and powerful enough to put a scare into heavyweight champions Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko. "If I was to retire after next year, which won't happen, I would go right into training and book something right away."
But given that Jacobs, 28, figures to be playing football into his 30s, he'll have to feed his love of boxing another way. During the past two years, he's been busy laying the groundwork for a post-NFL career in the sport. As a friend of junior welterweight contender Kendall Holt of Paterson, N.J., Jacobs attended Holt's fights and became familiar with Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who handled Holt at the time, and with several of Arum's top executives. When Holt and former manager Henry Cortes ran into some serious legal problems, Jacobs stepped in and took over as manager.
Even though Top Rank's association with Holt ended, its relationship with Jacobs continues. See, Arum is a native New Yorker and a huge Giants fan, and his son-in-law, Top Rank president Todd DuBoeuf, is friends with Giants co-owner Steve Tisch.
Recalling Jacobs' attendance at a fight between Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton, DuBoeuf said, "Brandon was at the fight, and Steve came out with a bunch of Giants people, and Bob [Arum] was in his fantasy world. He says, 'I've got my New York Giants here and my Filipino with a big knockout!' So the relationship has been very good."
DuBoeuf's wife, Dena, has worked closely with Jacobs to facilitate his current partnership with New Jersey-based manager Pat Lynch. "I met Pat through Dena, and Pat helped me out a lot when I needed good advice on what to do with my fighters," Jacobs said.
Jacobs is working to rebuild Holt, who lost a unanimous decision to Tim Bradley for the WBC and WBO junior welterweight titles despite scoring two knockdowns last year and then suffered a bad loss earlier this year to Kaizer Mabuza. But Jacobs and Lynch also have hot light-middleweight prospect Steve Martinez (6-0, 6 KOs) of the Bronx. Martinez previously sparred with Holt.
With Jacobs' financial resources, Todd DuBoeuf said, "He won't make hasty decisions and force something to happen rather than being a little more patient and letting the product develop. Having Pat Lynch as an adviser and us helping him out on the promotional side, it will give him that opportunity to hopefully develop somebody that becomes the next common name and a superstar."
Jacobs can't stress enough that his most serious commitment now is to the Giants and to his football career. But it's exciting to have a firm grip on what he wants to do with the next stage of his life.
"I'm really looking to go deep into boxing when I'm done playing," Jacobs said. "Dealing with fighters is definitely a hard thing to do, but I love doing it because that's my passion."
