Jacoby was talking to himself, Cutelaba, and anyone else who would listen following a round to forget against “The Hulk” in which he was repeatedly taken down, losing a one-sided frame in the process.
“He took me down, and I’m like, okay, and I get back up,” Jacoby recalled. “Then he takes me down again and I get up. And it’s all the same takedown. Finally, about halfway through, I sat there and literally told myself, ‘All right, buddy, get it out of you.’ And I’m talking to myself and I’m talking to him a little bit, too. ‘Go ahead, keep going. I’m gonna beat you in round two.’”
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Jacoby won rounds two and three on two of the judges’ scorecards. One judge had the second for Cutelaba. When 15 minutes were up, a split draw was the verdict, but in a lot of ways it was a win for “The Hanyak,” who kept an unbeaten streak that now stands at nine heading into his Saturday bout with Khalil Rountree Jr. More importantly, it showed that in a situation where a lot of fighters would have packed it in, he fought back, never losing faith that he would eventually find a way to win. That grit comes with time, experience and often a lot of heartache. But now that he’s here and armed with that mental toughness, the No.13-ranked light heavyweight isn’t going anywhere heading into a fight that fans believe will be a standup showcase. Jacoby, a former Glory kickboxer, doesn’t disagree, but he thinks he has more tools to show on fight night than Rountree does.