Golovkin vs. Jacobs headed to 2017

By Boxing News - 10/18/2016 - Comments

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By Dan Ambrose: Middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin’s fight against Daniel Jacobs (32-0, 29 KOs) appears to be headed towards February or March 2017, according to Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions. Loeffler says there’s not enough time to negotiate the fight for the December 10 on HBO Championship Boxing.

The Golovkin-Jacobs fight can happen next year. In the meantime, Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) will likely fight someone else on the December 10 date. There are plenty of contenders that Golovkin can fight.

The site and the final date of the Golovkin vs. Jacobs fight still need to be agreed on. The revenue split is the main thing that is being decided right now. It’s especially important for Jacobs, because he would be the underdog in this fight.

If Jacobs loses the fight, it could take him a considerable amount of time for him to rebuild his career. He’s young enough at 29 to come back in two or three years, but you can argue that’s why it’s important for him to get as much money as possible. If Jacobs doesn’t see another payday like his until 2019 or 2020, at least he’ll have the money from this fight.

Loeffler still needs to complete the negotiations with Jacobs’ manager Al Haymon for the fight next year. The World Boxing Association’s deadline of October 22 is quickly approaching, but it’s less of a big deal now given the news of the Golovkin-Jacobs fight likely taking place in early 2017.

Loeffler said this to the Lance Pugmire of the latimes.com about the Golovkin vs. Jacobs fight:

“Negotiations are taking longer than we anticipated and a fight of this magnitude needs a longer promotional schedule than we’d get if we tried to keep it on Dec. 10. Naturally, we’re trying to work out a deal to avoid going to purse bid, so we’re both happy. There is still a deadline out there, but in the discussions right now, the time pressure is off.”

It’s too bad the Golovkin-Jacobs fight can’t happen in 2016, because it’s not a big enough fight for it to drag on into 2017. It doesn’t need to marinate like the Golovkin vs. Saul Canelo Alvarez fight does. You can let the Golovkin vs. Jacobs fight marinate for five years, and it’s not going to be any bigger than it is now in my view. The reason for that is the poor match-making that’s being done for Jacobs. He’s not being matched against high caliber fighters, and this has hurt his ability to become a bigger name.

Part of the reason for the delay in the negotiations is Jacobs’ management’s request for a larger purse split from the original 75/25 mandated by the WBA to 60/40. The WBA voted on the request and denied it. However, the negotiations have continued, and it’s likely that he 75/25 won’t be want the two negotiating teams arrive at when they finally finish the negotiations. Jacobs will almost surely receive something in the area of 70-30 or 65-35 when it’s all said and done. It’ll be good for the two fighters to get the fight out of the way in early 2017. For Jacobs, it would give him a chance to prove himself as one of the best fighters in boxing.

Jacobs has been held back for the last six years of his career in being matched against weaker fighters since his knockout loss to Dmitry Pirog. Jacobs was matched against a good fighter last December in his fight against Peter Quillin, who he stopped in the 1st round. However, Jacobs’ management than brought him backwards in matching him against past his best Sergio Mora in his last two fights. That was a disappointment for a lot of boxing fans, because they expected better from Jacobs. Some fans thought it was bad enough that Jacobs was matched once against Mora, but they saw no point in him being put in against him for a second fight. It just came across like Jacobs was being matched for easy paydays on network television rather than being put in competitive match-ups where there was a chance that he could potentially lose.

Golovkin has the December 10 date locked down on HBO, so he’ll definitely be fighting on that date against somebody. It’s unclear when Jacobs will fight again. It would be a pity if Jacobs’ promoters at Premier Boxing Champions don’t have another date for him to fight for the remainder of 2016. If Jacobs has to wait until February or March of next year to fight again, it’s going to give Golovkin an advantage over him, because he might wind up rusty from inactivity.

Jacobs last fought in September in his second mismatch against the aging lion Sergio Mora. That wasn’t even a fight. It was target practice for Jacobs, who knocked the light hitting Mora out in the 7th round. Jacobs stopped Mora in the 2nd round in their first fight last year in August. That was even a worst mismatch with Mora suffering an ankle injury while in the process of getting dropped in the 2nd round.

Boxing fans aren’t going to be too happy at hearing the news of the Golovkin-Jacobs fight being kicked forward to 2017, because they wanted to see the fight take place already rather than waiting until next year for it to take place.

It doesn’t benefit Jacobs to have the fight against Golovkin take place next year. Golovkin won’t have aged, and there’s not going to be any more interest than there is now from the fans. The only way a fight creates more interest is if both fighters are fighting high caliber opponents, and staying busy. If Jacobs does even fight in the remainder of this year, which is doubtful, it’s likely going to be against someone along the lines of Sergio Mora. Those are the type of opponents Jacobs has been fighting in the last two years. Jacobs has fought the following opponents in the last two years: Sergio Mora [x 2], Peter Quillin, Caleb Truax, Jarrod Fletcher, Milton Nunez, Giovanni Lorenzo, and Kennan Collins. Jacobs’ management hasn’t moved him ahead against better opposition for some unknown reason. They should have started to put him in with better opposition a year after his loss to Pirog. Instead, they waited six years before they started to match him tough again.