Jorge Linares-Dejan Zlaticanin deal done for lightweight title bout

Dan Rafael  ESPN Senior Writer

Representatives for lightweight titleholder Jorge Linares and mandatory challenger Dejan Zlaticanin made a deal on Friday morning and avoided a purse bid that was scheduled a few hours later.

Promoter Lou DiBella, who represents Zlaticanin, will promote the fight within 90 days -- per WBC rules -- after Golden Boy Promotions and Teiken Boxing, Linares' co-promoters, accepted his offer.

Terms were not disclosed, but DiBella said his offer was backed by Showtime, which he said will televise the fight. The site and date have not yet been determined.

Golden Boy had hoped for backing from HBO, but the network did not show serious interest in the fight, and without the network's money, Golden Boy never made an offer to DiBella for the fight.

Had the fight been auctioned at a purse bid, Linares would have received 70 percent of the money with Zlaticanin due 30 percent.

"It was a good offer, a fair offer," DiBella told ESPN.com. "I didn't nickel-and-dime them. Showtime is glad to have the fight. It's going to be a firefight. It's an excellent fight. Linares is all action and a skilled fighter, and Zlaticanin is a beast. I'd be very surprised if this one went the distance."

Linares (40-3, 27 KOs), who will be making his third defense, made two in 2015. In May, the 30-year-old Venezuelan traveled to England and survived a knockdown to rally for a 10th-round knockout of Kevin Mitchell in a fight of the year contender. In December, Linares, a former featherweight and junior lightweight titleholder, fought in Venezuela for the first time since 2010 and knocked out Ivan Cano in the fourth round of a dominant performance.

Zlaticanin (21-0, 14 KOs) of Montenegro, was very impressive in his last fight, in June, when he defeated the highly touted Ivan Redkach in a fourth-round knockout victory on Showtime for an upset, becoming the mandatory challenger.

Zlaticanin, 31, also has quality wins against former lightweight and junior lightweight titlist Ricky Burns and 2014 ESPN Boxcino champion Petr Petrov.

"Stephen (Espinoza, who runs Showtime Sports) loves the fight and has wanted it since I first contacted him about it," DiBella said. "Showtime is committed to doing the fight and now we'll work out the details of when and where and what kind of card the fight will be on."

Source:  espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/14529433/jorge-linares-dejan-zlaticanin-deal-done-lightweight-title-bout