By Dan Ambrose: IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) can forget about fighting a unification fight for his next fight on April 23 or a big name. The International Boxing Federation has ordered Golovkin to defend against #3 IBF Dominic Wade (18-0, 12 KOs), according to Dan Rafael.
Wade is one of Al Haymon’s fighters. The question is does Haymon let the Golovkin-Wade fight take place or does he choose to have Wade go in another direction? Haymon is a good manager. He doesn’t have a habit of putting his fighters in fights that they don’t have a good chance of winning.
Wade would have almost no chance of winning against Golovkin in my view. The chance I can see of Wade winning the fight is if Golovkin suffers an injury that requires the fight to be halted on the spot. It’s very questionable whether Haymon will bless a fight that his fighter Wade would have so little chance of winning. It doesn’t matter that the IBF ordered the fight.
If Haymon has other ideas for Wade, he could simply move him in another direction similar to how Danny Garcia was moved away from a fight against Viktor Postol last year, when that fight was heading towards Garcia. That would have almost surely been a knockout loss for Garcia. Instead, he moves up to welterweight and immediately fights for the vacant WBC title against a struggling fighter in Robert Guerrero, who had lost 2 out of his last 4 fights.
With Johnson hurt, IBF has moved on its rankings and ordered GGG to face Dominic Wade. IBF says the sides are negotiating. #boxing
— Dan Rafael (@danrafaelespn) January 26, 2016
It was perfect for Garcia. He avoids a loss to Postol and wins a title against a fading fighter in Guerrero. Wade might end up being maneuvered around the Golokvin fight. If he does take the fight, then you have to wonder what his management is thinking, because he does stand a chance of winning.
The IBF previously ordered Golovkin to defend against #1 IBF Tureano Johnson. However, that fight couldn’t happen after Tureano suffered a shoulder injury that required surgery. The IBF moved quickly to replace Tureano with the 25-year-old Wade. This is a huge drop off in talent from Tureano to Wade in my opinion. Wade is very beatable and would likely lose to most contenders in the division. He’s just a very flawed fighter.
The negotiations between Golovkin’s promoters at K2 Promotions and Wade’s management has started.
The news is obviously not good for Golovkin or boxing fans, because Wade is weak puncher and is more along the lines of another Willie Monroe Jr. in terms of talent. I think Monroe Jr. is a much better fighter than Wade. You can’t blame Golovkin for this. It’s the IBF that gave Wade a top 3 ranking, and it doesn’t make much sense if you’ve had the chance to see Wade fight before. He’s coming off of a controversial 10 round split decision win over 42-year-old Sam Soliman in June of last year. I saw the fight and had Soliman winning, as did many fans. The judges scored it 95-94 and 97-92 for Wade, and 96-93 for Soliman.
Golovkin was recently in the UK last weekend with his promoter Tom Loeffler in watching a football game. It was thought that the reason for the visit was to attempt to put together a unification fight against WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders. The IBF might be favorable to a unification fight taking place if Loeffler can put it together. If not, then Golovkin could wind up facing Wade unless Haymon decides to steer the 25-year-old American towards safer waters and winnable fights. Wade would get a good payday for the fight against Golovkin, but it could be real bad experience in terms of him getting knocked out by the Kazakhstan fighter. It’ll come down to what Haymon wants to do.
There was also talk of a potential fight between Golovkin and Matt Korobov. That would be an excellent match-up. Korobov gave Andy Lee all kinds of problems before getting knocked out by him in the 6th round in December 2014 in their fight for the vacant WBO middleweight title. Korobov has since won his last fight in beating Josue Ovando by an eight round decision earlier this month on January 16. If Golovkin has to face Wade, then there obviously won’t be a Korobov fight for him.
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