Gennady Golovkin vs. Danny Jacobs official for March 18 on HBO PPV

By Boxing News - 12/17/2016 - Comments

Image: Gennady Golovkin vs. Danny Jacobs official for March 18 on HBO PPV

By Dan Ambrose: IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) has just revealed the news that he’ll be facing WBA World middleweight champion Danny “Miracle Man” Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs) on March 18 on HBO pay-per-view from Madison Square Garden in New York.

This is the fight that a lot of the boxing fans have been waiting for. While it’s not as big as Golovkin vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, it’s unquestionably the second biggest fight available to Triple G in the middleweight division.

Golovkin was the one who broke the story himself by letting his boxing fans know about the Jacobs fight being a done deal on his social media site on Saturday.

By making the deal today with the 29-year-old Jacobs and his manager Al Haymon, Golovkin and his promoter Tom Loeffler were able to avert the scheduled purse bid that was set for this Monday. It’s good or both Golovkin and Jacobs that the fight didn’t go to a purse bid. If it had gone to a purse bid, then Golovkin would have been entitled to a 75/25 split of the revenue for the fight.

Jacobs would have been stuck with just 25% of the purse for a fight that should be a closer between them in terms of the revenue split. Jacobs is a big name himself, and he obviously deserved a bigger cut than just 25%, which is what the World Boxing Association mandated. If it had gone to a purse bid, it’s very likely that one of the two fighters would have bailed on the fight.

Jacobs likely wouldn’t have agreed to the 25 percent split, and he might have chosen not to take the fight. At the same time, if Jacobs’ manager Al Haymon had won the purse bid, then he could have stuck the fight on Showtime PPV and staged it in Jacobs’ hometown of Brooklyn, New York at the Barclays Center.

That wouldn’t have been a good deal for Golovkin, because he’s under contract with HBO Boxing, and they might not have permitted him to take the fight on Showtime. Golovkin would then have had to make a decision whether to take the fight or vacate.

With the Golovkin-Jacobs fight being on HBO PPV, it’s going to give Jacobs his biggest payday of his nine-year pro career. It’s hard to know exactly how many PPV buys a fight between Golovkin and Jacobs will bring in on HBO, but it’s quite possible the fight will do at least 100,000 buys minimum.

Golovkin’s fight against former IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux brought in 150,000 PPV buys on HBO in October 2015 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Golovkin’s last fight against welterweight Kell Brook brought in 500,000 buys on Sky Box Office PPV in the UK.

Those are excellent numbers. Even the 150,000 buys on HBO PPV are good numbers for Golovkin’s first ever headliner fight on PPV. Filipino star Manny Pacquiao started out with low numbers when he first started headlining PPV fights in 2005 in his first fight against existing star Erik Morales. In Pacquiao’s first fight where he was the A-side fighter on HBO PPV against Oscar Larios in July 2006, the fight brought in just 120,000 buys on HBO PPV. So you can see that Golovkin is right there with Pacquiao in terms of PPV buys for a first time effort as the A-side attraction.

Loeffler is talking about possibly teaming Golovkin up with WBC super flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez for the March 18 card. Gonzalez would be fighting a rematch against former WBC champion and Mexican star Carlos Cuadras. That fight alone will be a HUGE. Having Gonzalez vs. Cuadras as the potential co-feature for the Golovkin vs. Jacobs fight would be a one-two punch on HBO PPV.

It would be a great card with just those two fights alone at the top of the card. You can bet that K2 Promotions will be adding some other nifty fights for the boxing fans to enjoy for their money. It sounds like this card could be a real value for the fans rather than one of the many disappointing fight cards we see sold on PPV nowadays. This one would be worth it for the fans.

Loeffer and Haymon have been going back in forth with the negotiations for the Golovkin-Jacobs fight since December 10, which was the date that Golovkin was supposed to have been fighting on HBO Championship Boxing. However, the WBA ordered the Golovkin vs. Jacobs fight, and Golovkin didn’t want to give up on the negotiations and potentially lose his WBA title if he were to walk away from the fight. Golovkin wanted the Jacobs fight, because he wants to keep his titles and win the last belt that’s not in his possession in the WBO title that is being held right no by Billy Joe Saunders.

Jacobs is unquestionably the best fighter that Golovkin will have faced during his career. Up until now, Golovkin hasn’t faced any real talents in the 160lb division. That’s led to him receiving a lot of criticism from the boxing fans, who see Golovkin as someone that has beaten a bunch of lesser fighters. Golovkin’s toughest opponents are from this bunch: David Lemieux, Daniel Geale, Curtis Stevens, Kell Brook, and Matthew Macklin.

Golovkin has wanted to fight Saul Canelo Alvarez, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Miguel Cotto, Carl Froch and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. for quite some time. He just hasn’t been able to get any of them to agree to face him. A lot of boxing fans have recommended that Golovkin move up to super middleweight and light heavyweight to take on Andre Ward, but he’s chosen to stay patient and wait for the biggest fight of all against Canelo. That’s where the big money is for Golovkin. If he can take Canelo’s scalp, he’ll make a ton of money and increase his popularity at the same time.

Jacobs has the chance to show the fans that he’s not the same fighter that was blown out by Dmitry Pirog in five rounds six years ago in 2010. Jacobs has wanted to show the world that he’s not the guy. The way for Jacobs to do that is to beat Golovkin and take his three times. Jacobs could then move forward and take the fight that Golovkin so badly wants against Canelo Alvarez next September. That would be a huge career boost for Jacobs if he can make that happen.

Golovkin can make his fight against Canelo MUCH bigger if he can defeat Jacobs in style by stopping him. That’s what Golovkin needs. He needs a knockout over Jacobs to really impress the boxing world. It would be Golovkin’s 24th consecutive knockout if he defeats Jacobs by a KO. It would be a huge accomplishment for GGG, because Jacobs has looked nearly unbeatable since losing his fight to Pirog in 2010. No one has gotten close to beating Jacobs since that time.

HBO has got a great fight finally after a number of whiffs with Manny Pacquiao fighting Tim Bradley last April and Jessie Vargas recently. Golovkin-Jacobs could be a huge fight for HBO, and it would help the sport of boxing at the same time.