by David P. Greisman

Showtime was hoping it could make a unification fight between Daniel Jacobs and Billy Joe Saunders. According to a network executive, one party was willing while the other wasn’t helping a deal get made.

Jacobs, who holds the WBA’s secondary “regular” title — Gennady Golovkin has the “super” title — last appeared in December 2015, when he scored a stellar first-round stoppage of Peter Quillin. Saunders also fought last December, when he outpointed Andy Lee to win the WBO belt.

But instead of Jacobs-Saunders, Jacobs will have a rematch with Sergio Mora, likely on Sept. 9 in Pennsylvania. Their first fight was about a year ago, ending abruptly in the second round when Mora suffered a leg injury during a knockdown.

The reason Jacobs-Mora II is happening is because of Saunders, said Showtime Sports executive Stephen Espinoza.

“We were getting a lot of delaying and non-response, so at a certain point Danny’s team locked in a fight rather than wait around indefinitely,” Espinoza told BoxingScene.com

Saunders’ title makes him a desired opponent at middleweight. Gennady Golovkin was in talks to face him. Jacobs was in talks to face him. It’s possible that he ends up underneath a Canelo Alvarez card and faces Alvarez afterward. Perhaps Saunders was trying to wait for the right deal, or to play his suitors off each other for the best possible deal.

“I’m not sure what the plan was,” Espinoza said. “I think there was ample opportunity for him to commit to a Jacobs fight, and Jacobs even would’ve been flexible with the date and the scheduling to accommodate him. We may have been a stalking horse [a term defined as “a false pretext concealing someone’s real intentions] to get another fight, but ultimately he really hasn’t committed to a fight, so I’m not sure it worked out well for him either.”

Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com