geale3 By Allan Fox: Former IBF/WBA middleweight champion Daniel Geale (29-2, 15 KO’s) will be back in the ring tomorrow night against #13 WBA fringe contender Garth Wood (12-3-1, 8 KO’s) in a scheduled 12 round bout for the vacant IBF Pan Pacific middleweight title at the Horden Pavilion, Moore Park, New South Wales, Australia. Geale is coming off of a 12 round decision loss to Darren Barker last year in August in the U.S. Geale couldn’t handle the power of Barker, and he ended up getting out-worked. The fight was scored as a split decision, but it was a clear win for Barker.

Geale, 32, had the opportunity to fight WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin on April 26th, but Geale reportedly said that there was a conflict with Australian television for the April 26th date, so he chose not to face Golovkin. Some boxing fans think it was a convenient excuse to keep Geale from taking an even worse loss than the one he suffered against Barker. Only Geale knows the truth about why he chose not to face Golovkin.

Geale will be turning 33 on February 26th, and he says he’d like to fight for a world title against either IBF middleweight champion Felix Sturm or Golovkin. It’s more likely Geale is interested in the Sturm fight, because that’s a winnable fight for him. After all, he beat Sturm by a 12 round split decision in September of 2012 in Germany. Sturm wants to avenge his defeat, and he’ll likely give Geale a shot at his title if he can get past Wood. That shouldn’t be a problem for Geale, because Wood isn’t in his class at all and he’s more of just a basic fringe contender.

Wood has lost 2 out of his last 4 fights in defeats against Anthony Mundine and Sam Soliman. He gave it his best shot in both fights, but he didn’t have the talent to pull off the upsets. In 2010, Wood stopped Mundine in the 5th round in a shocking upset. However, Mundine outworked him in their rematch and avenged his defeat. Following his loss to Soliman, Wood has won his last two fights in beating Togasilimai Letoa and Virgil Kalakoda.