Background and career
Daniel Jacobs (born February 3, 1987) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2007 to 2024. He held the World Boxing Association (WBA) middleweight title (Regular version) from 2014 to 2017, and the International Boxing Federation (IBF) middleweight title from 2018 to 2019. Nicknamed the "Miracle Man", Jacobs' career was almost cut short in 2011 due to osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. He went on to make a full recovery after spending 19 months out of the sports, meanwhile recovering from severe operation-induced injuries generally perceived as crippling.
Jacobs was born and raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn. He was raised by his mother, Yvette Jacobs, his grandmother, Cordelia Jacobs, and his aunts. Jacobs graduated from Erasmus High School.
As an amateur boxer, Jacobs recorded 137 wins and 7 losses. In 2003, Jacobs won the Junior Olympics national championship at 154 pounds. In 2004, Jacobs won the United States national champion in the 19-and-under division, a PAL national championship, and a National Golden Gloves welterweight championship. In 2005, he won his second PAL national championship and also won the National Golden Gloves middleweight championship. In July 2005 he faced Russian Matvey Korobov at the preliminaries of the 2005 Boxing World Cup, and lost via a third round stoppage. In 2006, Jacobs won the United States Amateur middleweight championship, decisioning Shawn Porter in the finals, 32–21. During his amateur career, Jacobs won four New York Golden Gloves championships. He almost qualified for the U.S. Olympic team for the 2008 Summer Olympics, beating Dominic Wade and Shawn Porter (twice) en route, but twice lost the North American Olympic Qualifier Super Middleweight finale to Shawn Estrada.
Jacobs made his professional boxing debut on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Ricky Hatton, which took place on December 8, 2007, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. In that fight, he defeated Jose Jesus Hurtado by first round technical knockout in just 29 seconds. Jacobs signed with Golden Boy Promotions and often fought on the undercard of super-fights. He was regarded as a blue-chip prospect. On April 27, 2009, Jacobs agreed to replace junior middleweight James Kirkland, who was arrested on a gun charge, to fight Mike Walker, who was coming off a victory over two-time world title challenger Antwun Echols. The fight took place on May 2, 2009, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and Jacobs won by unanimous decision with scores of 80–72 from two judges and 79–73 from the other. On August 22, 2009, Jacobs defeated Ishe Smith by unanimous decision to win the NABO middleweight title.
On July 31, 2010, Jacobs faced undefeated Russian Dmitry Pirog for the vacant WBO middleweight championship. The belt had last belonged to Sergio Martínez, who was stripped due to not complying with the WBO's rules. The fight took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Pirog was a 3–1 underdog going into the fight. Jacobs was up on the cards when he was caught with a massive right hand against the ropes and knocked out in the 5th round, handing him his first career loss. After the fight, Pirog said "After the second round, I knew I was good. I hurt him in the second and I knew I could come back and do it again." Jacobs won his next two fights before he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma.
On October 20, 2012, having fully recovered from cancer, Jacobs made a successful return to professional boxing with a first-round knockout victory over Josh Luteran. ESPN.com reported that the scheduled February 9, 2013 bout between Danny Garcia and Zab Judah at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York was moved to April 27, 2013 because of a rib injury sustained by Garcia. With Jacobs penciled in on the undercard fight for this event, his fight moved to April 27 as well. Jacobs defeated Keenan Collins with a round 4 knockout on that date. On August 19, 2013, Jacobs captured the WBC Continental Americas middleweight title via third-round knockout of Giovanni Lorenzo during the premiere of Golden Boy Live! on Fox Sports 1.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
