(Photo credit: Will Hart, K2 Promotions) By Chris Williams: Former IBF/WBA middleweight champion Daniel Geale (30-2, 16 KOs) feels absolutely zero pressure on him for his fight against WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golokvin (29-0, 26 KOs), because everyone is expecting him to be blown out quickly by Golovkin at Madison Square Garden in New York.
With everyone expecting him be knocked out easily, it allows Geale to potentially steal the show by beating the more popular and seemingly invincible Golovkin. If Geale is able to pull off an upset in this fight, he’d be sinking one of HBO’s brightest stars before he struck gold with them. They want obviously don’t want to see Golovkin take a loss to anyone right now and lose out on a potential star.
HBO had that happen last year when WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire was beaten and badly exposed by WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux. Donaire is now fighting in Macao, and Rigondeaux’s fights aren’t being televised by HBO.
Having Golovkin take a loss to Geale would be a brutal blow for HBO, and one they can’t afford to have happen right now. Manny Pacquiao’s getting old, and no longer bringing in the big pay-per-view numbers that he used to, in part due to years of retread opponents and poor match-making. Besides that, Pacquiao is not going to be around too much longer.
“I’ve known all along since the fight was announced the pressure is all on him,” Geale said to the Nydailynews.com.
Geale is looking at this fight in the only way he can, as him being a potential spoiler. If he just finishes on his feet after 12 and makes Golovkin look bad in losing, it’s all gravy for Geale. He’ll lose the fight, but he’ll win the event and be able to march out of the ring with his head held high in defeat.
HBO president of Sports Ken Hershman said “It’s his [Golovkin] first time in the big room…He has all the makings of a big, big star. If he continues to perform like he has been, will evolve probably to pay-per-view. So we’re continued to build that franchise.”
Geale could throw a wrench into Hershman’s dreams by beating Golovkin on Saturday.
Andre Ward has wanted a piece of Golovkin for a long time now, but he’s not seen any interest from Golovkin’s promoters to make that fight. I wonder how Hershman would feel about a Golovkin vs. Ward fight. Both guys are with HBO, so there’s no excuse for the fight not happening. Would he go for that idea, or would he not want Golovkin to risk having his star appeal ruined by a loss to Ward.
What would be a tragedy is if Ward fought Golovkin, beat him badly, and then only to have HBO no longer televise his fights due to him being deemed a guy that doesn’t bring in the ratings or not having a style that the boxing public enjoys. It would be sad if that happened, but I wouldn’t be surprised. Rigondeaux defeated a popular HBO fighter in Donaire, and after that promoter Bob Arum said that HBO was cool to televising Rigondeaux fights.
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