WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (29-0, 26 KOs) will be facing the biggest name of his career this Saturday night in defending his WBA title against former world champion Daniel Geale (30-2, 16 KOs) at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Golovkin has been interested in getting the big names to fight him for many years, but this is the best that he’s been able to get after 7 years as a pro. Golovkin hopes that a big win over Geale will be a springboard for him to get bigger fights against the other middleweight champions or possibly against one of the big junior middleweight names such as Saul “Canelo” Alvarez or Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Golovkin is currently on a 5-year run where he’s knocked out every opponent he’s faced. Some of the knockouts can be attributed to him facing weak opposition, but he’s certainly proven himself with wins over Matthew Macklin, Curtis Stevens, Gabriel Rosado, Gregorz Proksa and Osumanu Adama. Those guys have decent chins and aren’t the type of fighters that are typically bowled over easy, as they were by Golovkin.
Geale is a fighter who is almost impossible to KO, because he uses constant movement and he attacks quickly and gets away before his opponents have a chance to land anything. If Golovkin is able to score a knockout over Geale this Saturday, it’s going to say a lot about Golovkin’s power and talent.
Golovkin can definitely send a message with a quick knockout over Geale on Saturday, because there’s not too many fighters that can do this to a guy as talented as Geale. For Golovkin to get the big fights, a knockout over Geale is a must.
Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler said “Gennady’s up to fighting anybody. If it’s a pay-per-view fight, he would move up, or he would move down.”
Getting Canelo or Miguel Cotto to agree to a fight against Golovkin is probably a non-starter. He’s too dangerous for those two. Andre Ward, the perceived best fighter in the super middleweight division, wouldn’t have the popularity to make a pay-per-view fight if matched against Golovkin.
It would be a regular HBO fight, and perhaps not much more well-received than Golovkin’s normal fights on HBO. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr would be a good opponent for Golovkin, but the fight won’t happen if he has to sign an extension with Top Rank in order for the fight to get made.