Golovkin-Jacobs deal NOT reached, WBA orders purse bid

By Boxing News - 12/07/2016 - Comments

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By Dan Ambrose: A deal was not reached by Wednesday’s deadline of 5:00 p.m. ET for the negotiations between Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and Daniel Jacobs’ management for a fight. The World Boxing Association has now ordered a purse bid on December 19 in their headquarters in Panama.

The minimum bid for the Golovkin-Jacobs purse bid is $400,000. The purse split is in favor of Golovkin 75% – Jacobs 25%. I’m sure the 25% purse split isn’t quite what Jacobs and his manager Al Haymon were looking for from the negotiations. They reportedly wanted a 60-40 deal.

It’s not good news that the two fighters were unable to put a deal together before the end of the WBA’s 7-day deadline for the negotiations. However, Golovkin and Jacobs’ management can still reach a deal before the December 19 purse bid in 12 days from now. That’s a lot of time for them to still work on the deal. It’s just surprising that they didn’t reach a deal all this time.

It would be interesting to know what precisely Jacobs’ management are asking for in order to get the fight done. Are they holding out for the 40% purse split or do they want even more than that?

What happens if Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler loses the purse bid to Jacobs’ manager Al Haymon is unknown. Haymon could elect to have the Golovkin-Jacobs fight televised on Showtime pay-per-view in a date beyond March, which I when Golovkin wanted to fight. If they drag the fight out until the summer, Golovkin will have wasted a lot of time for the fight.

Golovkin will likely get a career high payday for the Jacobs fight, but when you factor in the lost fight in December that Golovkin missed, the money won’t be as good as it otherwise would be. If Haymon does win the bid and he decides to put the fight on Showtime, Golovkin would need to either vacate his WBA title or get permission by HBO for him to fight on Showtime.

Golovkin is under contract with HBO. They might not like the idea of Golovkin fighting on Showtime. If HBO says no to the idea of Golovkin fighting on Showtime, then he’ll need to vacate his WBA title. It wouldn’t be a big deal in the grand scheme of things for Golovkin, because he doesn’t need Jacobs for him to be a star or for him to get interesting fights that the boxing world wants to see.

It’s just that Golovkin wants to collect all the titles in the middleweight division. It’s Golovkin’s goal. I think he’s now realizing how hard it is to accomplish that task. It’s not with other sports where you simply have the contest scheduled. In boxing, it involved trying to deal with other promoters and other networks. Boxing is a different sport, and much of the time there are fights just cannot happen and never will.

Whether the Golovkin vs. Jacobs fight is one of those types of fights remain to be seen. But what is clear is that Golovkin and his promoter Loeffler should have moved on and gone in another direction. Even if they gave up the WBA title to avoid this headache, Golovkin would have been able to fight on December 10. He’d also likely be fighting in March of next year. The turnaround would be face after his December fight.

The way things are now, Golovkin missed his December fight, and he not even fight in March. Who knows how long this can drag out? Could we be seeing Golovkin vs. Jacobs in June, July or August 2017? Is it worth it for Golovkin until 2017 is halfway over before fighting Jacobs? Was it worth it for Golovkin to give up his December fight for the Jacobs match? Given that Jacobs isn’t a huge star in boxing, it seems like a mistake for Golovkin to have stuck it out in the negotiations.

The time wasted on the negotiations is a disappointment. Loeffler has been optimistic for months that he would be able to put together a deal for a Golovkin-Jacob fight. Instead, Loeffler and Golovkin come up empty and have nothing to show for all the months of negotiations and for Golovkin missing his December 10 fight date on HBO Championship Boxing. Loeffler should have let the fight go to a purse bid right away instead of spending months negotiating with Jacobs’ manager Al Haymon.

If you look at the boxing forums in the internet, there were many fans who felt that Loeffler was making a big mistake by not letting it go a purse bid after the first WBA ordered deadline passed for the negotiation period. Golovkin could have then saved time and gotten the Jacobs fight out of the way sooner. Or Golovkin could have vacated his WBA title if Loeffler lost the purse bid.

If the Golovkin-Jacobs fight does go to a purse bid and Haymon’s side wins, then it’s anyone’s guess whether the fight takes place. Golovkin obviously doesn’t want to vacate his WBA title, but it might not be doable for him fight on Showtime with him still under contract with HBO. It would not be the news that Golovkin is hoping for if Haymon wins the purse bid.

The boxing world wants to see Golovkin fight, period. There isn’t a huge demand for Golovkin to fight Jacobs per se. The fans just want to see Golovkin stay busy fighting the best guys he can. There’s no mandate for Golovkin to fight Jacobs. I’m sure the fans wouldn’t mind seeing Golovkin fight Jacobs, but the fans wouldn’t be broken up emotionally if the fight doesn’t take place.

Fans would also like to see Golovkin fight guys like the Charlo brothers, Erislandy Lara, Demetrius Andrade, Billy Joe Saunders, or some of the top super middleweights. The fans won’t be torn apart if the Golovkin vs. Jacobs fight doesn’t take place. The fight the fans really want to see is Golovkin vs. Saul Canelo Alvarez. That’s the fight the boxing fans want to see. Jacobs is a low interest fight in comparison. Part of the reason for that is because Jacobs hasn’t done a whole lot in terms of taking on big names during his career.

Despite having a lot of potential when he first turned pro in 2007, Jacobs hasn’t taken on the more dangerous opponents since he was stopped in the 5th round by Dmitry Pirog in 2010. The only dangerous opponent Jacobs has fought since his loss to Pirog was the 33-year-old Peter Quillin in December 2015. Other than that fight, Jacobs has been fighting guys like Sergio Mora (twice), Caleb Truax and Jarrod Fletcher. You can argue that Jacobs has been an underachiever to the extreme when it comes to his opposition.

For that reason, Jacobs hasn’t become a big star. That’s why it makes no sense for Golovkin and Loeffler to get bogged down into this one fight against him. You don’t want Golovkin to give up a ton of time trying to negotiate a fight that won’t register with the casual fans of the sport.

We know the hardcore boxing fans know who Jacobs is, but the casual fans likely have no clue that he is. That’s why it’s better for Golovkin to stick with a certain amount of negotiation time for each of his fights. If his opponent’s management goes over that time, then Golovkin needs to move on. Golovkin and Loeffler didn’t do that here with the Jacobs fight, and now they have nothing to show for it but lost time, and they STILL are stuck in the process.