Jamel Herring and Shakur Stevenson have spent nearly a year trying to figure out the best laid plan to meet in the ring.

The World Boxing Organization (WBO) has decided that more than enough time has passed by for the two sides to reach a deal on their own.

A purse bid hearing has been scheduled for August 9 to determine the promotional rights for the WBO junior lightweight title consolidation clash between Herring and Stevenson. The bout was officially ordered shortly after Stevenson’s most recent win this past June, only for talks to linger to the point of now serving at the mercy of the next-highest bidder. Top Rank—who promotes both boxers—was informed of the development on Monday.

“[P]lease be advised that a Purse Bid will be held at 1:00 p.m. Atlantic Standard Time (AST) on Monday, August 9, 2021, at the World Boxing Organization (WBO) headquarter offices in San Juan, Puerto Rico,” Luis Batista-Salas, chairman of the WBO Championship Committee declared in a published notification addressed to Top Rank founder and Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum. “Please be advised that the minimum acceptable bid for the WBO Jr. Lightweight Division is $150,000.00 (One Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars).”

Herring enters the bout as the reigning WBO World champion, having held the belt for more than two years. Stevenson—a 2016 Olympic Silver medalist and former WBO featherweight titlist—earned the WBO interim junior lightweight title following a twelve-round, unanimous decision over Jeremia Nakathila this past June 12 at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.

Normally, Herring would be entitled to a larger split as the defending titlist, Section 14 (e) (1) of WBO Rules covering purse bid hearings.

However, a clause in the WBO by-laws that takes into consideration the fighters’ most recent purses has resulted in a ruling that will land heavily in Stevenson’s favor should there be at least one accepted bid during the assigned hearing next Monday.

“The division shall not be greater than 80/20 in any case and shall be calculated by the Championship Committee using a ratio based upon the average purse of each fighter’s last three (3) fights,” noted Batista-Salas. “The WBO may rely upon the purses reported to the WBO on the WBO Participant’s Promoter’s receipts for the fights that are used to calculate the Purse Division for this purpose. By way of example, if contestant A has had his last 3 purses of $1,000,000, $500,000, and $400,000 (a total of $1,900,000) and contestant B has had his last 3 purses of 1,000,000, $2,000,000, and $2,500,000 (a total of $5,500,000), the purse division would be $1,900,000/$7,400,000 or 25.68% for contestant A and$5,500,000/$7,400.00 or 74.32% for contestant B.

“Wherefore, having this Committee confirmed each fighter’s last three reported purses, and having the WBO World Championship Committee the power and authority conferred by its governing rules to establish purse split ratios per the applicable provision, it is hereby determined as follows: the applicable “Purse Split” shall be 63% in favor of Mr. Stevenson and the remaining 37% in favor of Mr. Herring.”

The two sides can still negotiate terms up to the moments leading into a scheduled purse bid hearing and can call for the session to be canceled in the event a deal is reached during that time.

Furthermore, an extension may be granted if mutually agreed by both sides that the granted extra time will result in all parties coming to terms and thus avoiding a purse bid. This is subject to WBO approval, though there is precedence for such course of action.

Stevenson has served as the mandatory challenger to Herring’s title since moving up from featherweight last summer. The Newark, New Jersey native had to threaten to sue in order to receive his title shot, with his team of the belief that it should have come earlier in the year.

Herring was granted two optional defenses in large part due to the pandemic ruining plans for a showdown with former two-division champ Carl Frampton to have taken place last June. Herring was permitted to face Puerto Rico’s Jonathan Oquendo, against whom he won by eighth round disqualification last September in a bout that was twice postponed due to Herring twice testing positive for COVID.

Revisited plans to face Frampton extended well into 2021, by which point Stevenson’s legal team appealed to the WBO to either force Herring to honor his mandatory or vacate his title should he pursue the fight with Herring. The matter was settled, with Herring permitted to face Frampton—whom he knocked out in the sixth round of their April 3 title fight in Dubai—while a planned stay-busy fight between Stevenson and Nakathila was approved for the WBO interim title to be at stake.

Following Stevenson’s win, the two sides were expected to immediately enter talks for a head-on collision. Several dates were suggested, including a potential fall showdown in Atlanta. However, a deal was never reached nor terms agreed upon to the point where the WBO was convinced that the fight was able to move forward without their intervention.

The August 9 purse bid hearing is open to all WBO-registered promoters, providing they meet the minimum purse bid requirements of an approved bid that includes a 10% deposit along with a confirmed date and location for the event.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox