This coming July 26th at New York’s Madison Square Garden, Kazakhstan’s middleweight boxing sensation Gennady Golovkin returns to the ring to face Australian Daniel Geale. With the fight less than a week away, the books have Golovkin, known as Triple ‘G’ as a heavy favorite (-1100), with the comeback on Geale at (+650).
The obvious potential situation here is that Daniel Geale is being underestimated. Geale is a life-long boxer with an extensive amateur career and a 30-2 professional record. He defeated Felix Sturm in Germany to unify the WBA and IBF Middleweight Championships, and in his first title defense, he avenged a previous loss to the experienced Anthony Mundine. Overall Geale has a 5-1 record in World Title fights, and his record against former titlists is 4-2. Additionally, he has benn 2-1 in fights outside of Australia, twice capturing titles in hostile territory. His resume would suggest he is a cool, experienced professional who has won at a high level and in hostile territory. He is a world champion who unified titles, both times beating German fighters in Germany.
Yes, Golovkin has used a strong 2013 to become one of the darlings of the boxing world. He last fought in February, but has been off since then due to the death of his father. This is his return, so to speak, and fighting in New York City in the most famous arena in the world, Golovkin is expected to have the ‘home’ advantage.
Geale was down early in his career, but over time, he has proven to be a sturdy fighter who can go the distance. He has proven that against tough competition already. What may warrant a look is the over/under on the fight, as most of the sportbooks have not posted that as of yet. Geale could be tough enough to withstand the bludgeoning attack of Golovkin and go the distance.
But win the fight? The underdog bet is tempting, but most people in boxing are starting to consider Golovkin a ‘special’ type of fighter. Triple G combines a rare blend of speed and power with a strong mindset and a high level of technical prowess. Frankly said, he has been hurting people in the boxing game to set his record at 29-0 with 26 KOs and people are taking notice.
The only chink in his armor is that Geale is considered a stepping stone to bigger and better fights, such as a proposed showdown with Miguel Cotto at the Garden in November. He is looking past Geale, and you get the feeling the tough Aussie likes it that way.
