(Photo credit: Will Hart) By Dan Ambrose: IBF middleweight champion Sam Soliman believes that fellow Australian Daniel Geale (30-2, 16 KOs) is capable of pulling off a big upset this Saturday night against WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (29-0, 26 KOs) if he fights at the top of his game and puts in an A-level performance in their fight at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Most boxing experts don’t see Geale as having a chance against Golovkin even if he has the best fight of his career. It’s a difference in levels, and Geale is seen as a guy that is around same class as Felix Sturm and Anthony Mundine. Those are guys that Golovkin would likely obliterate if he had ever fought them before they started slipping.
“Golovkin is the heavy favorite for a good reason,’’ Soliman said to news.com.au. “If Geale is at his very best and boxes to his full potential he could pull off an upset. Golovkin will be hard to toss but no fighter is unbeatable.”
Golovkin is beatable, but probably not by the current fighters in the middleweight division. If Bernard Hopkins was still in his prime fighting in the middleweight division, he’d have given Golovkin huge problems. But Hopkins hasn’t fought at middleweight since 2005.
A prime Roy Jones Jr from 1993, when he held the IBF middleweight title, is another guy that would have given Golovkin nightmares. But neither of these guys are in the middleweight division now. Golovkin is the best of the division right now such as it is.
Geale might be able to extend Golovkin the full distance in losing every round of the fight, but that’s about all we can hope for on Saturday. Geale’s loss to Darren Barker last year showed Geale’s class, such as it is. If Geale couldn’t even beat a guy like Barker then how is he expected to beat a superior fighter like Golovkni?
A Soliman-Geale fight would do well in Australia, and make both of them good money. It’s not surprising that Soliman is saying that he thinks Geale might be able to beat Golovkin, because he stands to gain big time if Geale can beat him. But it’s just not realistic to even consider such an option given the problems Geale had against Barker and Sturm. Those guys would be destroyed by Golovkin without any problems.
Soliman said “I think I have the style to frustrate Golovkin and hopefully he’ll be ready to fight me for the unified world title around November.’’
Golovkin might take the fight with Soliman if that’s all he can get, but it obviously isn’t his No.1 or No.2 option that he’d like to fight next, because Soliman is an unknown in the United States. Golovkin needs Saul “Canelo” Alvarez or Miguel Cotto for him to make the big money. The problem is neither of those guys will likely fight him in November or December.
Golovkin is at the stage of his career where he’s being avoided. That may change if he becomes a toothless old lion without his power. But power is the last thing to go, and it’s very likely that Golovkin will still be a tremendous puncher his entire career. I can see him still knocking guys out in his mid-40s, if he decides to stay around the game that long.
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