By Keith Idec, photo by PBC

NEW YORK – Nathaniel Jacobs remained in the background Tuesday, seated with family members inside Madison Square Garden.

His father, Daniel Jacobs, took center stage, where he was promoting his March 18 middleweight championship match against Gennady Golovkin. But come fight night, Jacobs’ 8-year-old son will take a ringside seat, where he’ll get an up-close, extremely personal look at an even more dangerous fight than usual for his dad.

Daniel Jacobs didn’t decide until recently to let his son attend the Golovkin fight. The adorable leader of his father’s fan club is a fixture at ringside for his fights, but Jacobs admits this situation is different from previous fights.

The Brooklyn native is, after all, a big underdog against a pulverizing puncher who has knocked out a highly unusual 92 percent of his opponents entering their HBO Pay-Per-View main event.

“I’ve thought about it in the past,” Jacobs said. “You know, this is a brutal sport. Obviously, you don’t like your son to see you get hit. But I did give it a lot of thought, and I’m gonna let my son ride out with me. My son has been there from the very start of my career. He has always supported me. He knows that this is a brutal sport.

“And he knows why I’m fighting. So for him to see Daddy get hit, or for him, God forbid, to see Daddy go down, he’s just gonna understand why I’m doing it. And I’m doing it solely for him and my family. So yeah, he’s gonna be there to support me. I’m gonna look out and I’m gonna see him – well, nah, I don’t wanna see him. I might not wanna see him.”

Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs) knows he won’t be able to avoid hearing his son before, during and after he fights Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs). While Nathaniel Jacobs is his father’s strongest supporter, he doesn’t hesitate to criticize the WBA world middleweight champion for making mistakes in fights.

“You guys have to realize that his son is his biggest fan and his worst critic embodied in the same human being,” said Andre Rozier, Jacobs’ trainer. “It’s unbelievable, but he really is. He’s so focused about it. He’ll probably say, ‘You made that mistake because [of this].’ That’s the nature of Nate.”

Nathaniel Jacobs was particularly critical after his father’s first fight against Sergio Mora.

The hard-hitting Jacobs dropped Mora with a short right hand just after the midway mark of the first round in their August 2015 fight at Barclays Center. Overly eager to record a first-round knockout, Jacobs then got careless and paid the price.

Only 20 seconds after flooring Mora, Jacobs wound up on the seat of his trunks because Mora’s counter left hand dropped him. Jacobs quickly got to his feet and eventually stopped Mora in the second round, when the right ankle injury Mora sustained as he fell to canvas during a second knockdown prevented him from continuing.

“The first Sergio Mora fight he told me about myself, more than this guy,” a laughing Jacobs said, pointing to Rozier. “It was the cutest thing ever, but it actually made sense. He said, ‘Daddy, you can’t go in there rushing and hitting the guy, even though he’s hurt.’ I said, ‘You’re right, son.’ From a kid, from [the time I was] an amateur boxer, I’ve always learned that when a guy is hurt he’s the most dangerous. So, you know, I just learned another thing from a kid.”

His son’s passion for the sport is among the reasons Jacobs doesn’t want him to miss out on experiencing the most important night of his father’s career.

“He always tells me about myself,” Jacobs said. “He’s a big boxing fan, so for me to not allow him to be at this fight, it’s injustice. I’ve gotta let my son come. It’s the biggest fight of my career.”

Nathaniel Jacobs already has briefed his dad regarding Golovkin’s strengths.

“[He said], ‘Well, Daddy, you’ve gotta watch out for his power. He can hit, but you can move. You’ve gotta box him. You’ve gotta move around,’ ” Jacobs recalled. “He’s cute. He’s the most adorable kid, but he knows his stuff.”

Nathaniel Jacobs eventually will know that the undisclosed seven-figure purse his father will earn to challenge Golovkin, believed to be in the neighborhood of $3 million, will cover his entire college education. Daniel Jacobs is extremely appreciative of this financial opportunity, as well as the better life this sport has afforded him and his son.

They also appreciate Golovkin, with whom they posed for pictures at a Knicks game Monday night at Madison Square Garden.

“He is a Triple-G fan,” Jacobs said of his son. “We’re not biased. I’m a Triple-G fan. So it’s like, just because we’re in the same weight class [it’s not like] I don’t like to see you fight, or I don’t wanna watch you against other guys. I’ve watched him his whole career. He’s a great fighter. He has an exciting style.

“A lot of people like knockouts. I’m more of a sweet science type of guy, and I love knockouts. But, you know, you can never go wrong with watching a guy like that. So yeah, we’re fans. But come March 18th, it’s gonna be a totally different story.”

Jacobs’ genuine nature struck Golovkin, also a humble family man.

“I took a photo with him and his son,” Golovkin said. “He’s very good guy. Seriously. … He’s a very good guy. He has a beautiful family. I respect him.”

The 29-year-old Jacobs will be apart from this son for the next two months because he began training camp Thursday at Virgil Hunter’s gym in Oakland, California. Once he returns, he won’t discuss with Nathaniel what could happen during the Golovkin fight.

“No, absolutely not,” Jacobs said. “We don’t even bring those things into existence. He knows Daddy’s got a job to do and whatever happens, that’s just what it is. We don’t talk about if this happens, if Daddy gets hurt. Nah, we don’t talk about that because I’m not looking forward to getting hurt. I’m not looking forward to any of those things. I’m looking forward to being successful any way I can get it. But at the same time, we still know that this is boxing. We still know that things happen.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.