Highly respected amateur and former Ukrainian Olympian, Sergiy Derevyanchenko (12-0, 10 KOs), feels strongly that he's a smarter boxer than former unified middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin - who won a close twelve round decision over Daniel Jacobs in March 2017.

On Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York, Derevyanchenko will collide with Jacobs for the vacant IBF middleweight crown.

The two boxers are friends, and sparring partners, and were both trained by Andre Rozier. For this contest, Derevyanchenko will be handled by assistant trainer Gary Stark Jr. and Rozier will work with Jacobs.

Their fight came out of nowhere, after the IBF stripped Golovkin for failing to make a mandatory defense against Derevyanchenko. Jacobs was the next highest ranked contender.

The Ukrainian puncher has been studying some of Jacobs' most recent fights to prepare for this contest.

"I thought Danny fought a great fight against Golovkin. The fourth-round knockdown of Danny influenced the judges’ decision. We watched the Arias and Sulecki fights, and I was thinking that I would have stopped each of those guys," Derevyanchenko said to Premier Boxing Champions.

"But I also know that Danny is taking my fight more seriously than he did those two fights. Danny knows that this is going to be a tougher fight. I’m going to give this everything that I’ve got. We’re not going in there to lose."

Specifically, he reviewed the bout between Jacobs and Golovkin.

Ironically, it was Derevyanchenko who helped prepare Jacobs for that fight.

"I’ve reviewed Danny’s fight with Golovkin, and my style against Golovkin would be totally different. I’m a lot smarter than Golovkin, who made a lot of mistakes against Danny and showed that he has trouble with boxers. Golovkin was a headhunter, which I don’t understand because he’s a good body puncher," Derevyanchenko said.

"Golovkin didn’t attack Danny’s body like I will. I feel like I’m ready for anybody in the division right now, but I’ve got to beat Danny before I can consider fighting anyone else."