Signing up to fight terrifying Kazakh KO artist Gennady Golovkin is a bit like joining an amateur theatre group: the end result is probably going to painful, public and the audience will be praying for the end by halfway. Which is exactly why we should respect Daniel Geale so much. The softly spoken Australia chose to fight Golovkin on the 26th of July at Madison Square Garden rather than take a much easier domestic match-up with Sam Soliman for an alphabet middleweight belt. As TQBR’s Sam Sheppard pointed out on Twitter, that’s what real fighters do.
You may have gleaned from the last paragraph that not many will give Geale a chance in this match-up. Golovkin possesses a rare combination of technical boxing skills and savage knockout power, and it’s turned him into a phenomenon, at least for boxing’s hardcore fan base. He is, it has been declared, one of the most avoided fighters in the sport (and his favourite food is meat).
Geale doesn’t generate that kind of buzz, but he is one of the four or five best middleweights in the world (well, the #4 contender according to the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, to be exact). He’ll certainly be the best opponent Golovkin has faced to date, and his combination of skills, gradually improving power and activity could give “GGG” trouble. That’s much more than you could say for most of Golovkin’s opponents to date.
Geale are Golovkin are quiet, humble guys who do their talking in the ring. I can’t wait to see them have a conversation.
