By Miguel Rivera, photo by Ed Mulholland

Daniel "The Miracle Man" Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs) is convinced that he will not require a miracle to beat Gennady "GGG" Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs), who holds the WBC, WBA, IBO, IBF middleweight titles.

Jacobs believes that he will be the first serious test for Kazakhstan's dangerous puncher when they meet on March 18 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

"I will be 100 percent confident in my abilities. I feel confident right now, but as the training progresses, my confidence increases. One believes blindly that he can achieve something special. I'm at that point. I've always had the physical ability to beat him... my speed, power, ring dominance and intellect," Jacobs said to Carlos Gonzalez.

Golovkin has looked invincible since winning the WBA interim title in 2009. He's stopped his last 23 opponents inside the distance, with IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook falling victim in five rounds last September in Golovkin's last outing.

The fighter from Brownsville, New York, fought only once in 2016. Last September, Jacobs beat former world champion Sergio Mora by TKO in seven rounds.

"It is said that Golovkin had more than 400 fights at the amateur level, but I had almost 200, so I have experience too. It's about believing in what you can do and that's really half the battle," Jacobs said.

"Boxing is a sport where a person is always on trial. I am not exempt from criticism. I fully understand what I have to do inside the ring. Although once you show that you are at that level, you have to keep doing it again and again."

"It's hard for me to understand how the odds have Golovkin as an 8-1 favorite, but it's not worth anything either to get into a discussion and get people to study the quality of the opponents I've faced when it's in the ring where I have to prove it."

"The work they have done [to build up Golovkin] has been excellent. They have placed him against opponents who were in the final part of their careers, they were not genuine middleweights and it gave the impression that he was devastating everyone. He's being placed [in a position where he is] the best in the world, but in reality he hasn't proved that yet."