Purses: Golovkin $2.5M, Jacobs $1.75M

Boxingnews24.com

By Eric Baldwin: IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) may be a 4-belt champion, but he’s still going to get much more money than WBA ‘regular’ champion Daniel Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs) in their fight on Saturday night. Golovkin will be receiving a guaranteed purse of $2.5 million compared to Jacobs’ $1.75 million, according to Ringtv.com. The World Boxing Association is the ones pushing for this fight.

Golovkin is the upper most WBA champion called the “Super World” WBA champion compared to Jacobs, who is the junior WBA champion known as the “WBA World” WBA champ. It’s a real mess when you’ve got a sanctioning body that has two titles in the same weight class, but that’s what the WBA has for this division.

In other purses on the card, WBC super flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez will be getting a purse of $550,000 for his title defense against Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. For his part, Rungvisai will be getting $75,000 for the fight.

Despite not getting much more than Jacobs, Golovkin will still likely be getting his biggest payday of his career when the pay-per view buys come in. It’s going to be a nice payday for him in what is definitely the biggest fight of his career. Golovkin’s previous important fights have come against Kell Brook and David Lemieux. Golovkin has been trying to get a fight against Saul Canelo Alvarez for the last 2 years. Golovkin has also shown interest in the past in fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr., Miguel Cotto and Felix Sturm. None of those fights ever happened, and it’s likely none of them ever will. The Canelo fight could take place this year, but that’ll be up to the negotiation process.

Golovkin is viewed as the clear A-side in this fight, but he’s not going to be getting that much more than Jacobs. For Jacobs to be receiving almost as much, it suggests that his management were able to get a great deal for him. Both fighters will make more than their guaranteed purses, as the fight will be televised on HBO pay-per-view, and it’s possible that it could bring in a respectable amount of buys.

Golovkin’s fight against David Lemieux in 2015 brought in 150,000 buys on HBO pay-per-view, and that was with him facing a Canadian fighter. Jacobs is from the U.S and is fairly well known among the casual boxing fans. It’s possible that the Golovkin-Jacobs fight could do well on HBO PPV. Just how well the fight does is unclear. It’s pretty important for Golovkin that the fight generates good numbers because if it bombs on HBO PPV, then Golden Boy Promotions, the promoters for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, could use that as a justification for electing not to sweeten a deal for a fight between Canelo and Golovkin in September. There’s supposedly a $15 million flat rate offer that has been made to Golovkin for the fight.

GGG and his promoters at K2 want a percentage deal like the ones that are offered to other stars like Miguel Cotto. But if Golovkin’s fight against Jacobs brings in poor numbers on HBO PPV, then Golden Boy won’t have any reason to give Golovkin a percentage deal against Canelo. That’s bad news for Golovkin, because it means Canelo could potentially make huge money fighting him in September, whereas his $15 million flat fee would pale in comparison. If the fight brings in over $100 million, Canelo would make out in a huge way.