With the obligatory period of negotiations between Middleweights Gennady Golovkin and Erislandy Lara having ended, WBA has now scheduled the potential fight to go to purse bids next week on Monday, March 13th. The WBA previously ordered the two fighters to unify their WBA titles together on February 8th, and with the period to negotiate having well and fully lapsed – since it had been set from February 8 until February 23, the fight would naturally shift towards purse bids.
With Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KO’s) and Lara (29-3-3, 17 KO’s) having been unable to negotiate their side of the split, the process of purse bids will commence and help conclusively split the purse. Super Champion Golovkin will receive 75% of the split, while Lara will receive the remaining 25%, if the fight commences.
It is yet unknown which promoters will participate in these bids, but both Golovkin’s and Lara’s promoters – Matchroom and PBC respectively – will be expected to launch their separate bids next week. DAZN is currently the exclusive platform through which Matchroom features their fighters, and with the global streaming service still having plenty in the bank for the way of fights, Matchroom is now highly-tipped to potentially promote the boxing event.
With the wide discrepancy between the percentages of both fighters, Erislandy Lara will likely hope for a bid amounting to at least eight-figures. As the ‘Regular’ champion, it was expected that Lara would be stuck with the lower percentage of the split, but with the WBA having set his at 1/4th of what he could earn, there are no illusions as to who is expected to win their fight.
Gennady Golovkin has been the WBA’s ‘Super’ champion at Middleweight since April of 2022 after defeating former WBA ‘Super’ Champion, Ryota Murata (16-3, 13 KO’s), in a unification bout. After receiving special permission in September of that year to move up to face Canelo Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KO’s) -for the third time – in an eventual loss, Golovkin is now expected to resume his mandatory duties as champion by facing Erislandy Lara.
There are some concerns as to his interest in the fight given he had already relinquished the IBF belt when he was ordered to fight IBF Middleweight #1 ranked contender, undefeated Brazilian Esquiva Falcao (30-0, 20 KO’s). As he had given no valid reasons for vacating his IBF belt and has made no further commentary on possibly facing Lara, boxing fans are left in the wind as to Golovkin’s intention to defend his WBA title.
The Kazakhstani fighter now owns only one belt, with the other IBO title not considered a major factor compared to the other four belts belonging the organizations of the WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF.
Erislandy Lara will be eager to prove himself, however, with him having captured the WBA ‘Regular’ title since 2021 and indicating his interest in fighting Golovkin – amongst others – in the past.
