By Thomas Gerbasi

As he closed out an amateur career that included a reported 167 wins and several titles and accolades, Dominic Wade was tagged as a future world champion. Once he turned pro in 2009 and kept piling up victories, that talk continued.

Then he was announced as the latest opponent / victim for unbeaten middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, and suddenly, Wade was in over his head, not ready for “GGG” after just 18 pro bouts.

Wade laughs.

“They switch up, but that’s just part of life,” he said of the change in the weather when it comes to his championship potential. “Some people say stuff they don’t mean, some people say something just to be on the bandwagon. But you can’t get caught up in all that.”

He hasn’t. Some fighters get that big fight and they’re posting on Twitter and spending more time taking Instagram selfies than sparring. The 26-year-old from Largo, Maryland has taken a different tact, keeping a fairly low profile as he focuses not on fighting Golovkin, but beating him.

“It’s been by choice,” he said. “I don’t go online and read all the comments and all the blogs. I know some people are going to say some hating stuff, some people are gonna say a few good things and hype it, but I ain’t gonna get into it. I’m treating it like another fight that I gotta be prepared for, and I’m gonna go in there and I’m gonna work.”

Wade’s decision is a wise one, because while some would say a fighter should enjoy the entire ride on the way to his first title shot, he prefers to celebrate after what he hopes will be a victory in Inglewood, California this Saturday.

“Right now, I’m doing work so I really haven’t had time to enjoy it, but after the fight, that’s when I’ll be able to enjoy it,” he said. “Now, I’m just training. I tried to keep it as usual as possible, and we definitely got some really good sparring, good conditioning and everything going on, but we did take it up a notch for this fight.”

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Golovkin, 34-0 with 31 KOs and one of the top fighters on the planet, deserves such respect. But so does Wade, who accepted this assignment with no hesitation.

“It (the fight) came out of nowhere, but when it came I was definitely ready for the fight and for the title shot,” he said. “I’ve been working all my life to get it and now it’s here.”

But is he ready for the Kazakhstan crusher? Forget the number of fights Wade has. The real question is, how good has his competition been? Not stellar. He’s fought the usual suspects on the way up, including plenty of solid journeymen, but the best fighter on his ledger is Sam Soliman, who was 41 when the two fought in June of last year, and even then, Wade was just able to eke out a split decision.

Wade has heard the talk though, and he wants the doubters to remember his amateur career, where he fought the likes of Shawn Porter, Edwin Rodriguez and Fernando Guerrero.

“I think a lot of people forget,” he said. “They got pulled into the whole hype and say that I don’t have the experience and haven’t been against this type of opponent. But in the Junior Olympics, I’ve seen all that and it’s really nothing I haven’t seen before with the different style. He’s just a different person, a different type of human. I think they forget at times.”

Golovkin is a different type of human for sure, the kind of human who has a 21-fight knockout streak going back to 2008. That kind of stopping power has made him a fight game sensation, and with talks of a fight with Canelo Alvarez and a recent Jordan Brand deal, the focus is on Golovkin’s future, not present. Wade is that present, and he’s unconcerned with what’s going on in the life of Triple G.

“He’s a tough fighter, a strong fighter, he comes to fight,” Wade said. “But other than that, I look at every fighter the same – he’s coming to fight and he’s coming to keep what he thinks is his. I don’t really look at him as different. He hasn’t been on my radar; it’s whoever’s got the belt. At first it was ‘Kid Chocolate’ (Peter Quillin), now it’s him. He’s got the belt. People are talking like he’s unstoppable, he’s impossible to beat, and I think it’s all crazy.”

How crazy? Dominic Wade plans on shocking the world on Saturday.

“We’re training for a war, so we’re definitely going to be war ready,” he said. “We’re ready for the fight, point blank. We’re gonna clear the name up, clear that he’s untouchable and unbeatable up, and I’m gonna go in there and work and give my all.”