Opportunity knocks for Geale
The cancellation of a bout later this month could have a potential silver lining for Daniel Geale, with the chance of a mid-year super fight with WBA middleweight boxing world champion Gennady Golovkin.
Geale’s clash with Britain’s Matthew Macklin in Texas on May 25 (Australian time) fell through, after an injury to main event fighter Mike Perez caused the promotion to be canned.
Earlier this year, Geale turned down an April bout against Golovkin, because there would have been no Australian TV coverage of the bout on he scheduled date.
Golovkin didn’t end up fighting in April following the death of his father, but is committed to a July date on American pay TV network HBO.
A proposed bout with Julio Cesar Chavez now looks unlikely to happen, leaving Golovkin’s camp scrambling to find an alternative opponent, with former IBF and WBA Super champion Geale a potential candidate.
“We’re in negotiations with Golovkin and HBO to try and put the Geale-Golovkin fight together,” Geale’s manger Bill Treacy told AAP on Sunday.
Geale, who was due to leave for America on Monday, was excited about the possibility of a bigger fight following the cancellation of his bout with Macklin.
“I’m very disappointed about it, but it’s happened to me before early on in my career,” Geale told AAP.
“It’s probably put me in a position for a huge fight in a few months so I’m looking forward and staying positive.
“I want to have another world title by the end of the year.”
Geale is also well placed to fight for two other world titles, though he might have to wait to the end of this year or early 2015.
He is the next highest rated contender to fight the winner of the upcoming IBF and WBC world title bouts.
Germany’s IBF champion Felix Sturm defends his title against Australian Sam Soliman at the end of the month, while WBC kingpin Sergio Martinez fights Miguel Cotto in early June.
“The Sturm camp have already been in contact with us, they want to fight Geale at the end of the year if they beat Soliman,” Treacy said.
“But having said that we’d rather know we’re fighting Golovkin and get on with it rather than hang around waiting for someone to make a decision whether they want to fight Geale.”
