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WBA gives 7 day deadline for GGG-Jacobs talks

Fighters Network
30
Nov

The marathon, seemingly never-ending negotiations between Gennady Golovkin and mandatory challenger Danny Jacobs has a finish line. Or so it seems.

The WBA informed both camps on Wednesday they have seven days to reach a deal, Tom Loeffler, who promotes Golovkin, confirmed to RingTV.com in a text message. It’s not clear if a purse bid will be ordered after the seven days have elapsed. Loeffler referred logistical questions such as those to the WBA, and WBA president Gilberto Mendoza didn’t immediately return an email for comment. The news of the seven-day deadline was first reported by Steve Kim.

The sides have been trying to come to a deal since Golovkin, who holds the WBA, WBC and IBF middleweight titles, stopped Kell Brook on Sept. 10 with the WBA pushing back a number of deadlines for a purse bid (and a 75-25 split in favor of Golovkin) to allow the sides to broker a deal. Now, it appears, the WBA is trying to set another cutoff date to force the sides to ramp up negotiations.

It’s been floated out that March 18 at Madison Square Garden on HBO is the target date, venue and network for the fight. However, that’s one of a number of options that could possibly take place. The fight could apparently still land on HBO pay-per-view, and if it did go to purse bid and Jacobs advisor Al Haymon wins the auction, he would gain control of the coordination of the bout.



If that happened, Haymon would almost certainly put it in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center or perhaps even Las Vegas at a later date. But Loeffler expressed confidence on Wednesday he would be able to work out a deal before the deadline and a purse bid would be averted. Jacobs advisor Keith Connolly declined comment on Wednesday, citing the sensitive nature of the current talks. And Loeffler begged off any more questions on the particulars of the discussions to let them play out.

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