Daniel Jacobs and Sergiy Derevyanchenko have finally agreed to a deal to fight for the IBF middleweight title that was previously held by Gennady Golovkin.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, who promotes Jacobs, announced on Twitter that the two sides have reached a deal with the fight taking place in New York later this year, most likely in October.
The two were previously ordered to fight for the title after the IBF stripped Golovkin of the title for refusing to defend his title against Derevyanchenko, Golovkin’s IBF mandatory challenger, and instead pursue a rematch against Canelo Alvarez. Derevyanchenko had been the mandatory challenger since last year, but had not gotten a shot at the title.
Jacobs, who had won a title eliminator against Maciej Sulecki for Golovkin’s WBA title back in April, was the next highest-ranked available contender to fight for the vacant title. One potential roadblock in making the fight happen is the fact that both Jacobs and Derevyanchenko had the same trainer, Andre Rozier, but that issue was eventually resolved.
The two boxers were going to have a purse bid scheduled for July 5, but the purse bid was postponed for July 10 as both sides were nearing a deal.
The fight will be televised on HBO and not on the DAZN platform, which has a working relationship with Hearn after an eight-year, $1 billion deal was announced earlier this year to have DAZN stream Matchroom Boxing USA shows in the United States. When Jacobs signed with Hearn last year, he also signed an HBO contract and this upcoming fight against Derevyanchenko will be Jacobs’ third fight in the HBO deal.
No venue was announced, but it is likely that the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York would be the frontrunner to host the fight. Not only is Jacobs from Brooklyn and his most recent fight took place at the Barclays, but Lou DiBella, Derevyanchenko’s promoter, has also been involved in promoting many of Barclays’ major boxing shows.
