by David P. Greisman

Gary Shaw recognizes that many people think highly of Gennady Golovkin, the middleweight titleholder who Shaw’s fighter, Daniel Geale, will face on July 26 at Madison Square Garden.

“Maybe,” Shaw said in a June 6 interview with BoxingScene.com. “I have a lot of confidence in Daniel Geale. I don’t think Golovkin has fought anybody the quality of Daniel Geale. It’ll be a rough night for Golovkin. It’s not going to be an easy fight.”

Later, he added: “Daniel throws a lot of punches, more than anybody that Golovkin has faced, and has a lot of movement.”

Shaw acknowledges how Golovkin looked in his past performances in compiling his record of 29-0 (26 knockouts), but Shaw says there needs to be a caveat.

"He’s been devastating. There’s no question. But it depends on what caliber you fight,” Shaw said. “[Matthew] Macklin walked in, he was scared to death. That wasn’t a fight. Daniel Geale is not walking in there scared. Daniel Geale is walking in there to take the belt back to Australia.”

Geale is 30-2 with 16 KOs. He picked up a world title belt at 160 pounds in 2011 with a split decision over Sebastian Sylvester, defended it with victories over Eromosele Albert and Osumanu Adama, and briefly unified titles when he topped Felix Sturm by split decision in September 2012. He defended the IBF belt again with a January 2013 win over Anthony Mundine before dropping a split decision last August to Darren Barker.

One of the scores in Geale-Barker was 114-113 for Barker, a scorecard that was one point away from giving Geale the victory. Shaw’s ire, however, was for the scorecard of judge Barbara Perez, who saw the bout 116-111 for Barker.

It was a bout in which Barker also barely beat the count when rising from a body shot knockdown in the sixth, rallying back and scoring the close decision win.

“I thought he beat Barker. I thought the judge Barbara Perez did a horrible job. No way that fight should’ve been scored the way it was. I believe Geale won that fight and will win the Golovkin fight,” Shaw said.

“I give Barker credit. There’s not many guys that would’ve gotten up from that shot. But Daniel didn’t lose that fight. He beat Sylvester. He beat Sturm on German soil. And he’ll come over to the United States and beat Golovkin.”

Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com