Loeffler: If Wade Beats GGG, He's Recognized as The Best at 160

By Jake Donovan

The odds suggest a mismatch is in store, but don’t tell that to anyone directly involved in the April 23 middleweight title fight between Gennady Golovkin and Dominic Wade.

In fairness to the fight itself, just about any middleweight in the world will be viewed as a massive underdog versus Golovkin (34-0, 31KOs). The fire-breathing knockout artist from Kazakhstan has rapidly emerged as the darling of American cable giant HBO, largely in part to his current path of destruction.

The upcoming bout with the unbeaten but largely unknown Wade (18-0, 12KOs) – which headlines at The Forum in Inglewood, California – will mark Golovkin’s 16th defense of at least one middleweight title, a reign dating back to 2010. He has a perfect knockout-to-win ratio in title fights, part of a 21-fight knockout streak as he enters his 10th HBO-televised bout.

To put it in perspective, Golovkin has nearly as many title fights (16) as Wade has overall pro bouts (18). The April 23 show marks a massive leap in competition for the Largo, Maryland native, whose last fight was a 10-round split decision win over former middleweight champ Sam Soliman last June.

However, don’t confuse the matchup for it being a hard sell. The fight has already sold 7,000 tickets during its pre-sale event, with the belief of a fully sold-out crowd of 16,000 on hand at the Forum, far surpassing the eye-popping 12,7000 that packed The Forum for Golovkin’s venue debut last April, a 6th round knockout of Willie Monroe.

The feat was followed by his first title unification bout, stopping David Lemieux in eight rounds in front of a sold-out Madison Square Garden in New York City last October. Golovkin added the IBF strap to a stash that includes the WBA “super”, IBO regular and WBC interim titles.

In claiming the IBF belt, Golovkin also inherited a mandatory challenger, which started out as Tureano Johnson, who was forced to withdraw from preliminary negotiations due to a shoulder injury that will keep him sidelined for much of 2016. That occurrence opened the door for Wade, who didn’t at all hesitate in his shot at hitting the big time, no matter the odds.

“If Dominic Wade beats Gennady Golovkin, he’s instantly recognized as the best middleweight in the world. It’s a great honor,” Tom Loeffler, managing director of K2 Promotions pointed out during a recent media press conference at Madison Square Garden, whose parent company owns The Forum. “We’ve seen the odds on the fight. But we’ve seen just recently Wladimir Klitschko against a young, hungry undefeated challenger in Tyson Fury.

“Really, nobody gave (Fury) the chance at the upset. As we saw in that fight, if you have one bad night, everything gets turned upside down. As Gennady says, this is boxing. You can’t predict what is going to happen.”

Golovkin (34-0, 31KOs) reiterated such beliefs during his own time at the mic.

“I’m very excited about April 23. Dominic Wade is undefeated, very serious,” Golovkin noted, knowing better than to overlook a potential trap fight. “I don’t know who will win. I’m not God. This is boxing.”

In that vein, the unheralded challenger is ready to shock the world.

“April 23 is going to be a big day for me,” Wade insists. “It’s a life-changing event. I’m prepared, I’m ready. I’m definitely hungry. I definitely want the title. Once I got the call, I was excited. I could’ve ran 30 miles without thinking about anything (else).”

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox