Gennady Golovkin will defend his WBA/WBC/IBF/IBO middleweight titles against Dominic Wade over a scheduled 12 rounds at the Forum in Inglewood, California, on Saturday, April 23.
Born in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, but fighting out of Los Angeles, undefeated and power-punching “Triple G” turned pro in 2006 (34-0, 31 KOs), winning the interim WBA World middleweight title in August 2010 by knocking out Milton Nunez in the first. Recognized as the sanctioning body’s “regular” champ that October, the 34-year-old successfully defended his title 10 times before being elevated to “super” champ in June 2014. He’s defended his WBA Super World middleweight belt five times, most recently last October when he stopped David Lemieux by eighth-round TKO, thus winning the IBF World middleweight title. In addition, Golovkin scored the vacant IBO World middleweight title in December 2011 by knocking out Lajuan Simon in the first and the interim WBC World middleweight belt in October 2014 by knocking out Marco Antonio Rubio in the second.
Fighting out of Largo, Maryland, 26-year-old Wade is a seven-year ring vet (18-0, 12 KOs) who most recently fought last June, beating Sam Soliman by split decision. Although he’s never before fought for a title, Wade is undefeated and sixth-ranked by the WBA.
“We’re working hard every day, focused only on Dominic Wade,” said Triple G. “It’s a very important fight for me. He’s an undefeated challenger. Every fight for me is important to achieve my goal of all the belts. I’m very excited to return to the Forum, Los Angeles is my second home, my family lives here now. I have a lot of friends and many fans who want to see me fight and I’m very thankful for that. The people love my style.”
Should Golovkin emerge victorious, as pretty much everyone expects, a unification bout between him and WBC World middleweight titlist Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) is eagerly anticipated for later this year.
This article was penned by the author who is not related to the WBA and the statements, expressions or opinions referenced herein are that of the author alone and not the WBA.
