By Eric Baldwin: WBA ‘regular’ middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs and WBA ‘Super Champion’ Gennady “GGG” Golovkin are both stuck in a stalemate in the negotiations for a fight on December 10 in New York. The World Boxing Association mandates that their ‘super champions’ rate a 75/25 split against junior champions. Jacobs and his team wants a 60/40 split, and they’ve asked the WBA to step in and vote on whether they can have the bigger split.
Golovkin’s management are in a position where if he turns down the 60/40 request by Jacobs, they may not get the fight or worse, the WBA could vote to raise the limit themselves. There’s no telling what Jacobs will do if he doesn’t get the 60/40 split he’s asking for.
His manager Al Haymon could have him vacate his WBA title, and go his own way. That’s bad news for Golovkin, because he needs a fight against Jacobs to increase his popularity in the boxing world. That’s why the smart move on Team Golovkin’s part would be to give Jacobs the 60/40 split of the revenue so they can get the fight. As long as Jacobs doesn’t suddenly change his mind ask for even more money with a 55/45 split, it’s worth it to give in this one time. If Golovkin destroys Jacobs like many boxing fans expect him to, then he can move on to bigger and better things. Jacobs can then be slowly rebuilt over four to six years like he was after his loss to Dmitry Pirog six years ago in 2010.
If Loeffler and Golovkin fail to negotiate the fight with Jacobs, it could go to a purse bid. Golovkin might not win the purse bid. I’m not sure if Haymon will win it either, but Showtime is interested in televising the Golovkin-Jacobs fight. They’ll likely put in a strong bid in an attempt to get the fight on their network. Golovkin is under contract with HBO.
It’s unclear whether HBO would allow Golovkin to fight Jacobs on Showtime. If not, then Golovkin would need to give up his WBA title. That’s another reason why it’s important for Loeffler to give Jacobs the 60/40 revenue split that he’s asking for. It would be potentially bad if Loeffler loses the purse bid. He can avoid that if he gives Jacobs the money he’s asking for.
Golovkin wouldn’t be in this position if he wasn’t so committed to capturing all the titles in the middleweight division. If he didn’t care, then he could tell Jacobs that he’s not going to give him the revenue cut that he wants. Then if Golovkin’s management loses the purse bid, he could simply give up the WBA title and move on to fights against guys like Billy Joe Saunders. That’s an interesting fight for Golovkin. He could win the WBO title.
Once Golovkin has the WBO title, he could swing back to pick up the WBA title he relinquished. It’s not as if Jacobs has anyone else to fight. I doubt that Saul Canelo Alvarez will get anywhere near Jacobs for two or three years. Without anyone to fight, Jacobs would be in the same situation as Erislandy Lara is at 154. He’d be a champion in name only, but no big names fighting him. You’d like to think Haymon would start matching Jacobs up against better opposition at some point, but we’ve already seen the pattern with the match-making that’s being done for him.
Jacobs has been fighting guys like Sergio Mora [twice] and Caleb Truax. He’s being matched softly. He had the one fight against Peter Quillin, but the other fights have been mismatches. There was no reason for Jacobs to fight Mora a second time, and yet his management still had him do it. Jacobs will need Golovkin in the future. That’s why it’s no big deal if Golovkin vacates his WBA title now. He can pick it back up in the future. Jacobs may even get beaten by one of the contenders sooner or later. Chris Eubank Jr. would be a really tough out for Jacobs, as would Tureano Johnson. There are a number of contenders in the WBA’s rankings that would have a great chance of beating Jacobs.
It’s worth it for Golovkin to give Jacobs the 60/40 split for a couple of reasons. A. Having Jacobs’s name on Golovkin’s resume will make him a bigger star. To get Jacobs’ scalp, he’s going to need to pay a premium. B. Golovkin wants to hold onto his WBA title. If he doesn’t give Jacobs the 60/40 split he’s asking for, the negotiations could go to a purse bid, and it’s unclear whether Golovkin’s management will win that purse bid. As I mentioned before, if Golovkin loses the bid to Showtime or to Jacobs’ management, they could put the fight on Premier Boxing Champions on Showtime. Golovkin is under contract with HBO, so he’s probably not going to be able to fight on a rival network.