Since both his mandos have fights set up, does BJS get stripped or did he tell the WBO to give him time until after the GGG v Jacobs fight? Thoughts....
I actually think he already agreed to fight Golovkin. When the WBO finally manned up against him he had nowhere else to go, or take a dangerous mandatory fight for short change instead, with the chance of losing his golden lottery ticket without ever cashing it in.
I'm a fan of Billy's and I don't like what's happening. After his last performance, I think he has to have another fight before any talk of fighting the likes of GG, unless he just can't motivate himself to fight another lowly ranked guy. I really don't know. The last I heard, Frank said that Khurtsidze had been paid step-aside money and was fighting Langford, with the winner getting a shot at Billy at some stage. I'd love to see him get a shot at GG, but not going in on the back of his last performance against Akavov.
I agree that he needs a tune-up, but given that two mandatories are breathing down his neck I doubt that he will do that. There may also be financial implications, i.e. another step-aside fee, if he took tune-up+GGG compared to fighting GGG straightaway. I expect he either fights: GGG in June (hopefully), Canelo or GGG in September if Canelo-GGG falls through, or simply doesn't fight until he's forced to take on Khurtsidze or Murata.
I guess there is method to BJS's madness re:GG. He knows that GG wants to unify and that he probably wants to have a crack at SMW after that. The longer BJS can delay the unification fight, and roadblock GG's career, the more money he can demand in the knowledge GG is keen to unify and move up in weight. GG is not getting any younger either and with each passing month/year, BJS's chances of being competitive increase. Just as long as he stays off the Guinness in the meantime.
That's true, but on the other hand BJS now has two mandatories waiting for him. Paying them step-aside money waiting for GGG to get old is expensive, and in his current (Akakov) form BJS could well lose should he choose to fight them while waiting. That's why I think he just wants to fight whoever offers the most money, i.e. Canelo or GGG. Usually that would mean Canelo, but: - with the Kazakh government getting behind GGG in June, they can probably outbid GBP; - the schedule works better for a GGG fight. If BJS wants Canelo the earliest it can happen is September and that only if the GGG fight falls through. Otherwise it's December. In either case he'll end up having to pay more to his mandatories for them to keep stepping-aside.
I guess it's a balancing act between what he thinks he can eventually earn fighting GG and what he would have to pay to dodge his mandatories. I'm not sure if step-aside money for lesser-named fighters would be that excessive as, in effect, they are being paid to do nothing with no training camp, travel and accommodation, or promotional costs, all of which commonly come out of a boxer's purse. I guess they typically remain in their mandatory position too.
That's true, as you said it's a balancing act. Also depends on how Khurtsidze and/or Murata rate their chances. If they think they can beat him and get the megafight themselves, I imagine they'll ask for quite a bit, but if not, they'd be only too happy to get free money.
Without being disrespectful, I meant that he could use one of his mandatories as a tune up. Although that could be a big risk, and I don't know anything about Murata. Do you know anything about him? Would he be a big threat? I've heard that Khurtsidze would be.
Hard to say with Murata, he is an Olympic gold medallist but is unproven in the pros. Personally, I'd give him a similar chance to Khurtsidze. A peak BJS wins both handily and could use them as tune-ups, but the version that scraped by Akakov probably loses. I guess the viability of that course depends on how much confidence BJS and his managers have in his own ability, but already paying off Khurtsidze seems to suggest that they would be a little concerned.
It seems as though he's in tough predicament. But I don't want him to face GG in June, on the back of that awful performance against Akavov. I hope I'm wrong, but it just gives me the impression that he's cashing out. But I think a fully focused version of him that fought the likes of Lee, could cause GG some problems.