Carl Froch vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in serious negotiations for Jan. 24

Scott wrote a piece yesterday about tentative discussions between Carl Froch and Chavez Jr. It now looks like those discussions are becoming much more serious. Carl Froch wanted a big fight in Las Vegas, and it appears he may get what he's looking for. ESPN's Dan Rafael is reporting that contract negotiations are taking place to put 168lb. titlist, Carl Froch, in with Julio Ceasar Chavez, Jr. next January. There were previous discussions to stage this fight in the fall, but those talks fell through. However, both sides are now optimistic that they can make the fight happen at the top of the year. Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing had this to say about the prospective fight:

"Talks have re-opened with Top Rank regarding a proposed Froch versus Chavez fight with a date of Jan. 24th penciled," Matchroom Boxing's Eddie Hearn, Froch's promoter, told ESPN.com on Tuesday. "Obviously, we have the potential to make another big domestic fight against [mandatory challenger] James DeGale and even a third fight with Mikkel Kessler, but either way we have given ourselves a deadline of 10 days to two weeks to map out Carl's future."

For his part, Bob Arum has been discussing the fight with Barry Hearn, founder of Matchroom Boxing.

"We're well on our way to making that fight for Jan. 24," Arum said.

The biggest hurdle that needs to be overcome is in-house, between Bob Arum and Chavez Jr. You may recall that Chavez Jr. was being lined up to face Gennady Golovkin but refused to sign a contract extension with Top Rank which effectively derailed that bout. Those issues have yet to be resolved, although Bob Arum has recently met with Chavez Jr.'s team and is optimistic they can work something out.

"I'm convinced we can get it done," Arum said. "I made a proposal that I don't want to get into, but I think it would be acceptable."

Should the negotiations on all sides be finalized, the fight would happen at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Yes, the very same MGM that Arum ripped in the media for heavily promoting Mayweather-Maidana during Pacquiao's fight week for his rematch with Tim Bradley. So while Arum has no problem with deriding just about anyone, he'll certainly not let that get in the way of his money.

"Business is business. They know this would be a big event there, and what happened with Pacquiao is not an issue that would affect Chavez and Froch," Arum said, adding that his stepson, Todd duBoef, Top Rank's president, had smoothed things over with Bill Hornbuckle, the president and chief marketing officer of MGM Resorts.

So how you do all feel about this potential PPV fight? It'll be nice to see Chavez Jr. in with someone who he doesn't have a tremendous size advantage over, and with the ability to check his good chin. Yet I'm still skeptical he has the consistent dedication to actually make 168lbs legitimately, which could end up meaning this won't be a title fight. We shall see.