By Ian S Palmer
WBA, IBF, IBO and Interim WBC World Middleweight Champion Gennady Golovkin of Kazakhstan returns to the ring this Saturday, April 23rd when defends his titles in a mandatory defence against American Dominic Wade at the Forum in Inglewood, California. Golovkin’s last fight was six months ago when he stopped Canada’s David Lemieux in eight rounds in October. Wade’s last contest was back in June when he beat Sam Soliman by 10-round split decision. This 12-round fight can be seen live on HBO in North America and British fans can catch it on BoxNation. Golovkin has won 21 straight fights by knockout and has only gone past 10 rounds twice during that stretch. The last time he went the distance was back in 2008 when Amar Amari went the full eight rounds with him.
The 34-year-old champion Golovkin will enter the ring with a perfect record of 34-0 with 31 Kos while the 26-year-old Wade of Largo, Maryland is also perfect at 18-0 and has 12 Kos to his name. This is a huge step up in class for the challenger. Golovkin stands just over 5-feet-10-inches tall with a 70-inch reach. He turned pro back in 2006 after a fine amateur career and has fought 154 rounds since then. His stiffest competition up to now, at least on paper, has been Lemieux, Willie Monroe Jr., Marco Antonio Rubio, Martin Murray, Daniel Geale, Curtis Stevens, Matthew Macklin and Gabriel Rosado.
Golovkin has defended his title 14 times, but he’s yet to face a truly elite opponent. However, it’s hard to blame him since none of the other top pound-for-pound boxers seem to want to have anything to do with the power puncher. Golovkin simply does his job no matter who he faces and will likely do the same here against Wade. The challenger stands just over 5-feet-10-inches tall with a wingspan of 74.5 inches. He turned pro in 2009 and has gone 60 rounds since then. Golovkin currently owns a knockout ratio of 91 per cent while Wade’s is 67 per cent.
Up to now, Golovkin has shown that he has a granite chin to go along with fine boxing skills. He isn’t afraid of getting hit while he unleashes fierce body and head shots to his opponents, but can also be patient in the ring while he stalks his prey. Golovkin isn’t getting any younger though and he’d like to face some other big-name opponents sooner rather than later. Unfortunately for the fans, the game Wade isn’t one of them as he has limited experience and it’s all been against Grade B or C opponents.
Prediction
Golovkin’s the heavy favourite here and that’s quite understandable especially since Wade has been out of action for 10 months. This contest likely won’t go the distance due to the champion’s tremendous power and skills. Wade will need to get Golovkin’s respect with some power shots of his own, but sooner or later the champ will wear him down and stop him. Golovkin may indeed lose his unbeaten in the ring status one of these days, but it’s very unlikely that it’s going to be to Dominic Wade this Saturday night on the west coast.
