by David P. Greisman

Caleb Truax recognizes that he’ll be seen as the underdog when he faces Danny Jacobs on April 24 in Chicago on a Spike TV broadcast of “Premier Boxing Champions.”

But he also feels that he’s the toughest opponent Jacobs has ever fought, and the same can be said for where Jacobs stands when contrasted with Truax’s past opposition.

“I think he’s good. I think he’s the best fighter that I will have faced,” Truax told BoxingScene.com. “He’s more athletic and more in his prime than [Jermain] Taylor was when I fought him. I have a little bit more experience than him as far as going rounds and being in 10-round fights. I think he only went one time to the 10th round with Ishe Smith. Since he’s been back from cancer, he’s kind of had an easy road.”

Truax has gone 10 rounds on nine occasions, going 6-1-2 in those bouts. The loss came against Taylor in 2012, with Taylor hitting the canvas late in the match. Truax is 25-1-2 with 15 KOs.

Jacobs is 28-1 with 25 KOs and is coming off an August blowout of Jarrod Fletcher, winning the WBA’s fringe “regular” title at middleweight as the sanctioning body has made Gennady Golovkin its “super” titleholder.

That was a big moment for Jacobs. He had lost a fifth-round technical knockout to Dmitry Pirog in 2010 and had come back with a pair of wins, only to be sidelined for a year and a half between 2011 and 2012 due to cancer that threatened his life, never mind his career.

Since returning, Jacobs has notched six victories.

“I think he’s definitely more talented and more athletic and I guess more of a boxing thoroughbred than the guys I’ve been fighting,” Truax said. “I’ve fought tough guys. I’ve fought different styles of guys that will prepare me for him. I’ll just have to get some good sparring to get used to his athleticism. I think I’ll be his toughest fight as well. He lost to Pirog and got knocked out. That didn’t go his way. I’ll be a guy that’s going to stay around and not get knocked out in the first round like half the guys he’s fought. I think it’s a great matchup.”

Jacobs’ loss to Pirog was more than five and a half years ago. There’s a limit on what Truax and his team can take from it — but there’s also difficulty in scouting what Jacobs has done since then.

“Obviously he’s improved and worked to change things that didn’t go his way in that fight. What I noticed then, what my coach noticed from the Pirog fight and just watching film, is that he didn’t deal with pressure that well. And he didn’t deal with Pirog’s head movement very well,” Truax said. “Those are two things that I’m going to try to establish right away. It’s actually kind of hard watching film on him, because since he came back he’s fought pretty shitty opposition. None of them could really do anything to him, and it’s tough to see what works against him because the guy he’s fought don’t really offer much.

“I think the biggest thing that he brings to the table is his speed and athleticism. His speed stands out. He puts combinations together,” Truax said. “I’m not sure if he’s as big a puncher as his record would indicate just because the guys that he’s fighting aren’t that good. I guess we’ll find out April 24. I won’t know until I get into the ring with him and feel his power.”

The thought has long been that there are plans to put Jacobs in with Peter Quillin, who is fighting Andy Lee on April 11 for a world title — one that Quillin previously held, dropping it instead of facing Matt Korobov on a card promoted by Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports. Jacobs and Quillin are both from Brooklyn and managed by Al Haymon.

Truax, who is also signed with Haymon, wants to disrupt any such plans.

“I know I’ll be the underdog, although I don’t think of myself as the underdog. If there’s a line in Vegas, I’m going to be the underdog just because he’s more well-known and he’s a champion,” he said.

“My promoters and I, we were talking about going in with a chip on our shoulder. He’s a headliner. He’s a guy who is being groomed to fight Peter Quillin, is what everybody thinks. That’s why I’m here, man. I want that fight with Quillin. I want the next big middleweight fight with PBC. It’s up to me to screw up any plans that Jacobs has for that.”

Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide . Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com