By Phil D. Jay
WBA and IBF middleweight champion Daniel Geale is contemplating a home title defence in Australia after potential opponents Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Sergio Martinez announced the possibility of having a rematch of their entertaining first contest from September 15.
The 31 year-old, who stunned Felix Sturm in Germany earlier this month to unify the 160lb division, travelled to Las Vegas for the huge WBC title grudge match to sound out the winner for a possible three-belt battle, only to be left disappointed for his efforts.
“It is frustrating as I was hoping to fight the winner and they announce a rematch,” Geale told World Boxing News.
“It was pretty obvious that Chavez Jr. doesn't like to fight someone that moves and Martinez is a good mover.
“It was a shut out for eleven rounds to Martinez. As the saying goes ‘everyone has a punchers chance’ and he relaxed too much in the last round as Chavez jumped at the chance.
“To me though, it wasn't a great fight. It was pretty much all Martinez other than the last round. That's boxing though and there are other great fights out there for me.”
Asked whether some of the bigger names in the division, like WBA ‘regular’ and IBO title holder Gennady Golovkin or Matthew Macklin, who destroyed Joachim Alcine on the undercard, were of interest to him, Geale replied: “Yes, Golovkin is a good fighter and if that's who my management decide to put in front of me then that's who I will fight.
“Matthew Macklin has also been talked about as a possibility, whilst Sturm has shown interest in a rematch. Martin Murray is keen and is another to consider, but my team will work out what is best for us.
“It is also a possibility that there could be a title defence in Australia first as we are not ruling out anything at this stage.
“Eventually I would love to fight them all, but we want to make the right decision and not be rushed into any fights.”
It has also been suggestion that Geale could move up to face world super-middleweight champions Carl Froch or Andre Ward after enhancing his reputation significantly with his double title win, although ‘The Real Deal’ is quite content at middleweight.
“No, I am not looking at 168-pounds at this stage or in the near future,” confirmed the Aussie.
Phil D. Jay covers boxing for worldboxingnews.net
