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With WBA deadline looming, Loeffler and Haymon still in talks

Fighters Network
05
Dec

Despite time running out on the WBA’s deadline of Wednesday before a purse bid will be ordered, Gennady Golovkin promoter Tom Loeffler remains hopeful a deal can be struck with Al Haymon for a fight with mandatory challenger Danny Jacobs. Haymon hasn’t broken off negotiations yet in an attempt to run out the clock, according to Loeffler.

“I’m still in contact with Al and hopefully we can still work out a deal,” Loeffler told RingTV.com on Monday morning. “The WBA has set a deadline now, so we’ll see how that works out. But Al hasn’t called for a purse bid. We’re still in contact.”

The WBA informed both camps last Wednesday they have seven days to make a deal or a purse bid will be ordered (Golovkin controls a 75/25 revenue split); this comes three months after the WBA formally ordered the fight to be made within 30 days following Golovkin’s fifth-round stoppage of Kell Brook on Sept. 10 for his WBC/IBF middleweight titles. While one option is for the fight to take place on March 18 at Madison Square Garden, if a deal can’t be made and Haymon wins the purse bid, the bout could be pushed back to a later date and take place in either Brooklyn’s Barclays Center or Las Vegas, where Haymon is comfortable doing business.

The bout is also still a possibility for pay-per-view, with both HBO and Showtime apparently real options. Of the biggest questions to be answered in the next few weeks: If Haymon wins the purse bid and decides to put the bout on Showtime PPV, would Golovkin (36-0, 33 knockouts) vacate the WBA title and give it to Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs) to honor his contractual obligations to HBO? Only time will tell. Keith Connolly, an advisor for Jacobs, declined comment on Monday, citing the sensitive nature of the negotiations.



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