By Keith Idec

BoxingScene.com has learned that representatives for Gennady Golovkin and Danny Jacobs are not expected to come to a contractual agreement for their middleweight title fight by Wednesday’s 5 p.m. ET deadline.

WBA president Gilberto Mendoza also confirmed to BoxingScene.com in an email Wednesday that assuming an agreement is not reached by Wednesday’s deadline, a purse bid for the Golovkin-Jacobs middleweight title fight will be scheduled for December 19 in Panama City, Panama, home of the WBA’s headquarters. Handlers for Kazakhstan’s Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs), the WBA “super” middleweight champion, and Brooklyn’s Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs), the WBA world middleweight champion, would then have until December 19 to make a deal on their own, or that purse bid will take place, according to WBA guidelines.

Keith Connolly, Jacobs’ adviser, declined comment Wednesday, as did a spokesman for K2 Promotions, which represents Golovkin.

If the two sides eventually come to an agreement on their own and the fight is broadcast either live on HBO or by HBO Pay-Per-View, it could take place March 18 at Madison Square Garden. If the WBA-mandated match goes to purse bid, and a company other than K2 Promotions wins the bid, the winning promoter could try to take the fight to a network other than HBO, on another date, and at another venue.

HBO Sports has televised 11 of Golovkin’s last 13 fights either live on the premium cable network or via HBO Pay-Per-View. Considering the network’s substantial investment in Golovkin’s career, its executives aren’t likely to permit Golovkin to fight Jacobs on another network.

Just how much of a seven-figure license fee HBO Sports is willing to pay to air Golovkin-Jacobs live on HBO isn’t clear.

HBO Sports did express significant interest in airing Golovkin-Jacobs on Saturday night, though, after Canelo Alvarez disclosed that he suffered a fractured right thumb during his ninth-round knockout of England’s Liam Smith on September 17 in Arlington, Texas. Alvarez (48-1-1, 34 KOs) was tentatively set to fight Saturday night, though the Mexican superstar’s opponent for that live HBO fight had not been selected.

Golovkin-Jacobs negotiations progressed slowly, however, and sometime within the first third of 2017 became the realistic target date for the fight. HBO instead will air a “World Championship Boxing” tripleheader scheduled to feature WBC/WBO super lightweight champion Terence Crawford (29-0, 20 KOs) against John Molina Jr. (29-6, 23 KOs) in a main event from CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska, Crawford’s hometown (9:35 p.m. ET/PT).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.