The blizzard that hit the East Coast on Tuesday played havoc with the fight week schedules for the two fight cards in New York this weekend, but the participants are just rolling with the punches.
The storm caused media workouts on Tuesday afternoon to be canceled for the fighters on the Gennady Golovkin-Daniel Jacobs middleweight world title card on Saturday night (HBO PPV, 9 ET) at Madison Square Garden and for the card topped by 2016 Irish Olympic star Michael Conlan’s St. Patrick’s Day pro debut against Tim Ibarra on Friday night (UniMas, 11 p.m. ET/PT) at the Theater at Madison Square Garden.
The Golovkin-Jacobs organizers got lucky in one respect because way before the storm was even predicted they scheduled the final news conference for Monday afternoon rather than the traditional Wednesday afternoon.
K2 Promotions managing director Tom Loeffler was disappointed to have to cancel the workouts, but it had to be done with New York being pounded by snow.
“That’s always a great fight week event but it might be cold today but it will be red-hot on Saturday night in the arena,” Loeffler said on a teleconference with boxing media on Tuesday to replace the media availability the workout would have provided. “[The storm] affected things [on Tuesday] but we don’t anticipate any more issues. Everything is supposed to clear up by [Wednesday]. This was the worst part of the storm. We don’t expect any other deviations.”
For the fighters and their teams the bad weather just meant a little last-minute change to the schedule.
“Being confined inside and working in the hotel gym, I am sure is making them antsy,” Abel Sanchez, Golovkin’s trainer, said of the fighters.
Loeffler joked that Sanchez, who trains Golovkin and his stable of boxers in the snowy mountains of Big Bear Lake, California, might be responsible for the bad weather.
“Abel has been accused of bringing the snow from Big Bear,” Loeffler said.
The two stars of the show, Golovkin and Jacobs, didn’t seem too put off by the change of plans.
“Everybody is ready for a great show,” GGG said. “My close friends stay with me, my brother is also here. I feel very comfortable. No problem.”
Jacobs said it was no big deal and the weather still made everything else “pretty doable.”
Said Andre Rozier, Jacob’s trainer: “We’re used to it. This is our type of weather. New York will throw you a twist here and turn there but we’re ready to rock ‘n roll. It doesn’t matter.”
The fighters will instead do their daily workouts in the fitness centers at their respective hotels.
“We have nothing to do but keep the weight down and we have all the facilities in the hotel to do that,” said Sanchez, adding that Golovkin woke up on weight at 160 pounds on Tuesday morning.
Sanchez outlined Golovkin’s snow day routine.
“We’ve done all the work that needs to be done, sparred the rounds we needed, so this is the same as any other week. We’re just not going outside” Sanchez said. “He’ll eat dinner at 5 and then do a little run on the treadmill in the evening. Some friends and family will share some time before he goes to bed and then do the same thing (on Wednesday).”