By Declan Taylor

THE WORLD middleweight title showdown between Gennady Golovkin and Chris Eubank Junior moved a step closer today after 'very positive' make-or-break talks in London.

Eubank has made no secret of the fact he wants to face Golovkin for his IBF, WBA, IBO and WBC belts later this year but it looked like the fight would fall through due to an argument with Sky Sports over pay-per-view splits.

Eubank's father, Chris Senior, was insisting that his son should receive a greater purse given it was him taking the risk against Golovkin, one of the most devastating punchers on the planet.

It is understood that Eubank stood to make around £3m in the initial deal, which had seemingly been agreed with Golovkin and his promoter Tom Loeffler.

But Chris Senior had hoped to secure Team Eubank closer to double that for the clash, which is set to take place either late August or early September in the UK – most probably at London's 02 Arena.

It appeared as though the issue over money would scupper the fight entirely and at the press conference following Eubank's victory over Tom Doran on Saturday, Senior and Eddie Hearn discussed the problem openly on a video which can be seen on Boxing Scene.

But, in a last-gasp bid to make the fight, Team Eubank met with Sky Sports executives in London to discuss the issue of money, although there was a feeling that there would still be no agreement reached.

Now, however, the fight seems to have been pulled back from the brink following today's meeting, which lasted around two and a half hours.

And Hearn is now confident that the two camps can finalise the terms of their agreement – and it could happen by the end of this week.

He said: “Today we moved a step closer to this extraordinary fight.

“We held a very positive meeting with our broadcaster Sky Sports and now we move forward to try and finalise the contract.

“There is still some work to do but I'm hopeful we can get it over the line in the next few days.”

Eubank, 26, moved to 23-1 with his fourth-round stoppage victory at the weekend with his only defeat coming at the hands of Billy Joe Saunders in November 2014.

Golovkin, meanwhile, is 35-0 (32 early) and the 34-year-old Kazakh is currently on a 22-fight hot streak of stoppage wins.