By Jake Donovan

It was impossible for Daniel Jacobs to not be cast in the roll of good guy. Less than a year after suffering the lone loss of his career to date, the Brooklyn-bred boxer was forced to contend with an obstacle far more dangerous than any opponent he could ever face in the ring as he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, given just a 60% chance of beating the odds.

Not only did Jacobs conquer cancer, but also proved everyone wrong by triumphantly resuming his career. Five of his six comeback fights have taken place in New York since his ring return in Dec. ’12. Chief among them was his last fight, a 5th round knockout of Jarrod Fletcher to claim a secondary version of a middleweight title.

As he heads into his first title defense, Jacobs is now forced to play the "bad guy," even if it's nowhere to be found in the DNA of one of the more humble fighters in the sport. Still, it’s a role he willingly embraces as he faces cult favorite Caleb Truax, a middleweight from Minnesota who has brought in fans by the busload for their title fight Friday evening at UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois.

"Fighting here in Chicago serves as extra motivation for me,” insists Jacobs (28-1, 25KOs). “I've always been the guy fans favored at Barclays Center, and I may have gotten a little spoiled. So I'm excited to be the guy that people want to see lose.

“Truax will probably have a larger crowd supporting him, and those fans will motivate me to be stronger and fight better on Friday.”

Jacobs has fought twice before in Chicago, his last trip in fact taking place in the very same venue exactly six years ago today when he knocked out Jose Valera in the 2nd round of their ESPN2-televised bout. The 4 ½ minutes of fight time is only marginally longer than the 1:05 needed to stop Hector Lopez in his second pro fight way back in Jan. ’08.

Friday’s bout with Truax (25-1-2, 15KOs) figures to last long enough for Chicago fans to get a good look at the visiting 28-year old. Truax has never been down as a pro, with his lone loss – a 10-round decision to Jermain Taylor in April ’12 - not coming before managing to drop the then-comebacking former middleweight king. 

The 31-year old challenger has built up a sizeable following in the Midwest, with Friday’s bout marking his third straight appearance at the UIC Pavilion. While Truax enters as the crowd favorite, the storyline all week continues to center around Jacobs and his journey to this point, as both he and Anthony Dirrell – who faces Badou Jack in the evening’s main event – survived cancer to go on to win major titles.

If the extra attention on the backstory of the visiting fighter rubs the local favorite the wrong way, the defending champ suggests a remedy to that solution.

“Truax can say he's tired of hearing about 'The Miracle Man' all he wants, but he shouldn't be thinking about my cancer when we get in the ring,” Jacobs points out. “He should just fear me. I'm going to be a cancer to him once we start fighting.”

An early indication of his willingness to play the bad guy occurred during Thursday’s weigh-in. The skirmish between Dirrell and Jack was far more engaging, but Jacobs and Truax made sure to have their final say to each other as well after making weight for Friday’s bout.

Their exchange never evolved beyond words, but Jacobs offered a verbal preview of what’s to come.

“I let that boy know what to expect (on Friday),” Jacobs claimed of the on-stage staredown and the words that followed.

Their bout opens up the broadcast on Spike TV (Friday, 9:00pm ET/8:00pm local time/CT).

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox