By Dan Ambrose: Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions is highly optimistic that he can finalize a deal by this weekend between WBA ‘regular’ middleweight champion Danny Jacobs’ manager Al Haymon and his fighter IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin for a fight in March on HBO. Loffler thinks he can get the deal made before Monday’s scheduled purse bid by the World Boxing Association. However, if the fight doesn’t get made, Loeffler is prepared to go to the purse bid and win it on Monday.
Loeffler is hoping that he work out a deal with Haymon to avoid the purse bid, because it would be more beneficial for the two management teams to finalize a deal to avert the bid. If the Golovkin vs. Jacobs fight goes to a purse bid, Golovkin would be entitled to a 75-25 purse split. That’s a great financial deal for Golovkin, but not a good one for the 29-year-old Jacobs.
At that point, the fight might not be worth it for Jacobs to take if he’s only getting a small cut of the revenue. Hopefully for the sake of the boxing fans, Jacobs wouldn’t vacate his WBA title and pull out of the fight. If Haymon wins the purse bid, he could stick the fight on Showtime pay-per-view, and that could potentially put Golovkin in a similar situation where he might need to vacate his WBA title and pull out of the fight. Golovkin is under contract with HBO. If they don’t permit Gennady to fight on Showtime, then he would have to consider giving up his WBA title.
Loeffler said this to Fighthub.com about his hopes to finalize a deal between Golovkin and Jacobs:
“With Gennady’s next fight, I’m still in discussion with Al [Haymon],” said Loeffer. ”I think I can finalize something this week. Once it’s finalized and once we announce it, it’s a huge fight. Gennady is coming here to establish himself as the No.1 middleweight. At the same time, Danny Jacobs is establishing himself right behind Gennady as No.2 middleweight, a very dangerous opponent. He’s got a long knockout streak as well. Gennady has 23 knockouts in a row. I think Danny has something like an 88 or 90% knockout ratio, So it’s two big punchers, and that’ll be a fight where I don’t think either guy will go backwards. It’ll be great if we can finalize that deal. The WBA has mandated as the mandatory. Gennady, he’s accepted all of his mandatory obligations. It takes a little longer to work out a deal the way we would like, but once the deal is worked out, but then once the deal is worked out, I think everyone will be happy. Everyone’s anticipating and looking forward to this fight. The purse bid is looming next Monday, but as I’ve said the whole time, it’s more beneficial to both sides and for the promoters to work out a deal. Every indication I’ve got from Al is we’re going to work out a deal, and Danny wants the fight. Gennady wants to defend his titles against Danny, so it’s a great match-up. It’s one of those fights where one win for Danny, he can all of a sudden be at the top of the sport of boxing with multiple world titles that Gennady has worked so hard to get. It’s a great match-up, and the winner takes all the belts. I’m hopeful it’ll get made this weekend,” said Loeffler.
Unfortunately, Loeffler still doesn’t sound like he knows whether the deal with Haymon will get made for the Golovkin-Jacobs fight. Loeffler is sounding hopeful, but he doesn’t seem to be entirely confident. Loeffler has been in negotiations with Haymon for several months trying to make the fight between Golovkin and Jacobs. If the fight doesn’t get made, Loeffler will need to move on and try and find another opponent for Gennady to fight in March. Loeffler can always restart negotiations for a fight between Golovkin and Jacobs at a later time, but it might not be worth it if it’s going to require a lot of time investment for a fight that might not be doable in the end.
“I had a meeting with Eric Gomez [of Golden Boy Promotions] as well, and we’re still in discussions with Golden Boy to make that fight [against Canelo Alvarez],” said Loeffler. “What can you say about that fight? With Canelo’s fan base and with Gennady’s fan base, that’s a huge promotion as well. That’s the working date for it, September of next year. If we can make that fight, it would be a huge year, but nobody can overlook Danny Jacobs. If we can finalize the Danny Jacobs fight, we’ll see what happens after that. [Julio Cesar] Chavez Jr. had a great win on Saturday. He made 168 pounds. That would be a great fight [for Gennady]. Gilberto Ramirez is out there, 168 pounds and undefeated. I think the options are opening [for Golovkin]. In addition, there are all the great fights in the UK. Gennady had such a great reception when he fought Kell Brook. Whether Carl Froch decides to come out of retirement to prove he’s too big and too strong for Gennady. [There’s the Chris] Eubank Jr. fight [for Golovkin]. Billy Joe Saunders has that last title that Gennady wants to unify with. I think there are a lot of great options for him at this point. We will certainly do everything we can to work out a deal. If a deal can’t be worked out, we’ll then do a purse bid. No one can predict at that point, but I’m fairly confident we can get it worked out. We’re thinking March [for Golovkin vs. Jacobs fight],” said Loeffler.
Loeffler’s negotiations with Golden Boy Promotions for a fight between Golovkin and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez are very important. Unlike the Jacobs fight, this is one that the boxing world really cares about. The Jacobs fight is much less important, because he’s not a big name. He’s a fighter that is more known to the hardcore boxing fans. Golden Boy wants the Canelo vs. Golovkin fight to take place in September 2017. It might require that Golovkin take a much smaller slice of the revenue than Canelo for the match to ultimately get made. It would be the best news for the fans if the Canelo-Golovkin fight gets made, because it’s the biggest fight out there right now in boxing.