By Dan Ambrose: If everything goes as planned, the IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) vs. WBA ‘regular’ champion Daniel Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs) fight will take place by February. If not, then there will be a problem, according to Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez.
Sanchez doesn’t mind too awful much that the Golovkin-Jacobs fight didn’t take place this year on December 10, because there wasn’t enough time to promote the fight on HBO Championship Boxing. But Sanchez wants to get the Jacobs fight behind them so that they can move on and accomplish bigger and better things such as beating Golden Boy Promotions flagship fighter Saul Canelo Alvarez in September.
Goovkin won’t be able to move on as long as the Jacobs fight is being dragged out month after month rather than getting it done with properly. The World Boxing Association can help the process out by ordering a purse bid.
Sanchez said this to ESPN.com.mx:
“They say they will take that fight in February. He is already in the gym for days, ready for whatever comes,” said Sanchez about Golovkin. “We have no quarrel until early February with Daniel Jacobs. We did not reach an agreement this time, but it was because there was not enough time to promote the fight,” said Sanchez.
One of the things that have slowed the Golovkin-Jacobs negotiations is the 75-25 split that the WBA ordered for the fight. Jacobs’ management wasn’t happy with getting him getting only 25% due to him being a world champion as well, even if he’s not holding as many belts as the Kazakhstan fighter. Jacobs’ management petitioned the WBA to try and get a bigger split, but the WBA denied their request.
That move slowed things down, and Golovkin’s team is still trying to make a deal. If the fight eventually does go to a purse bid, then it could end badly for Golovkin if Jacobs’ promoter is able to win the bid. They might not have the money to win the bid, but there’s also Showtime that is reportedly interested in bidding on the fight, and that could cause problems if they end up winning the bid.
Golovkin is with HBO and under contract, and it’s not likely that he’s going to be able to fight on Showtime. Hopefully the extra time that the two teams have to negotiate can get the fight made by 2017. If not, then something has got to give. That could mean one of the fighters vacating their titles.
Golovkin has other titles he needs to defend, so he can’t spend a lot of time trying to negotiate a fight that might not be one that can be made. It would be unfortunate if Golovkin and his team find out that they’ve wasted time on the Jacobs fight and the fight can’t be made. There has to be a cutoff point where Golovkin’s team gives up on the fight if it still isn’t made by February of 2017. That’s what Sanchez is talking about. There won’t be a problem until February if the fight isn’t made.