(Photo Credit, Chris Farina/K2 Promotions) By Dan Ambrose: IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) will be looking to get his 22nd consecutive knockout this Saturday night in his title defense against his IBF mandatory challenger Dominic Wade (18-0, 12 KOs) from the Forum in Inglewood, California.
Golovkin’s knockout string goes back to 2008. The last fighter to go the distance with Golovkin is Amar Amari, who survived an eight round bout against Golovkin in June 2008. Amari spent most of the fight covering up against the ropes.
In the last two rounds of the fight, Amari did little more than hold and run. Amari looked exhausted and beaten by the 8th. Had the fight been a 12 rounder, Amari wouldn’t have made it.
Wade is a huge underdog in this fight and virtually no one is giving him any chance of beating Golovkin. It would be a moral victory on Wade’s part if all he does is halt Golovkin’s knockout streak at 21. It’s never a good feeling to get knocked out, and it’s likely that Wade will slip into the survival mode like Amari did in 2008 and just look to go the distance rather than win the fight. If that’s going to be the case, then Golovkin will need to up the intensity of his attack to stay on top of Wade because he’ll surely be looking to stick and move to keep from getting knocked out.
Wade can punch hard, but he’s more of a one punch at a time type of fighter rather than a guy that throws combinations. Wade doesn’t stalk his opponents the way that Golovkin does. Most of Wade’s knockouts have come from him landing single shots against weak opposition from the C level ranks. His fight against Golovkin is going to be a monstrous step up for Wade.
Golovkin, 34, wants to collect two more belts at 160 before making a decision whether or not to move up to super middleweight in search for bigger fights.
Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez believes that Golovkin will finish out his career in the 168lb division and may even move up to 175 for certain big money fights. Golovkin may have no other choice but to move up in weight in order to get the top guys to fight him. Golovkin is having no luck in getting the best 160lb fighters to face him, and that’s probably not going to change anytime soon.
Golovkin can either stay in the middleweight division and be satisfied in fighting guys like Dominic Wade for the rest of his career or he can move up to super middleweight where the fighters in that division will be less hesitant about facing him. Golovkin’s power might not be nearly as good in the 168lb division as it is in the 160lb division.
In the co-feature bout, WBC flyweight champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (44-0, 38 KOs) defends against fringe contender McWilliams Arroyo (16-2, 14 KOs). It’s not nearly as great a fight as Gonzalez’s last contest against Brian Viloria last October, but it’s still a decent match-up. It’ll be a good showcase/mismatch type of fight for Gonzalez to show off his skills.