Last month, there was a rare Top Rank versus Golden Boy fight when Vasyl Lomachenko (TR) routed Gary Russell Jr. (GBP) to win a vacant featherweight world title. It was a fight that happened because of a purse bid, not a negotiation between the companies.

Although Top Rank’s Bob Arum and Golden Boy’s Oscar De La Hoya have put their feud to rest -- so they say -- they still have yet to negotiate a fight with one another.

Perhaps it will happen soon for a middleweight world title bout. And if it doesn’t, they’ll be headed for another purse bid.

That’s because on Tuesday, the WBO ordered titleholder “Kid Chocolate” Peter Quillin, who is with adviser Al Haymon but not under contract to Golden Boy -- even though it has served as his promoter for years -- to make a mandatory defense against the Top Rank-promoted Matt Korobov.

In the WBO’s letter to Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti and Golden Boy vice president Eric Gomez, it gave the sides 30 days to negotiate an agreement for the fight. If no deal is reached -- and don’t hold your breath that one will be – a purse bid will be ordered.

The minimum bid is $200,000. At any time during the 30-day free negotiation period, either side can let the organization know that it is declining to negotiate and ask for an immediate purse bid.

Quillin (31-0, 22 KOs), 31, of New York, has defended his 160-pound belt three times, most recently by near-shutout decision against Lukas Konecny in Washington, D.C., on April 19.

Korobov (24-0, 14 KOs), the 31-year-old Russian southpaw and 2008 Olympian, scored a pair of seventh-round knockdowns against Jose Uzcategui en route to a 10-round decision victory on Saturday night on the Terence Crawford-Yuriorkis Gamboa undercard in Omaha, Nebraska.