IT’S not easy trying to find a willing opponent for GGG next fight or, indeed, any contest where Kazakh terror Gennady Golovkin will be eyeing you from the other side of the ring like a hungry dog salivating over a steak. But this is the thankless task facing the WBA Super and IBF middleweight champion’s promoter, Tom Loeffler, although he feels they may have landed an adversary for April 23 on HBO.
“He’ll probably fulfill his IBF mandatory obligation,” Loeffler told Boxing News. “That’s the problem with being a unified champion, there are a lot more mandatories. That mandatory will probably be the IBF No. 3, unbeaten Dominic Wade – because Tureano Johnson is injured and Wade has expressed a willingness to take up the mandatory position. He’s young, unbeaten and, most importantly, is willing to fight Gennady. The venue depends on if we finalise this fight as there are a few arenas on hold right now.”
Wade has an 18-0 (12) record and turns 26 just 11 days before what would easily be his biggest fight. The man from Largo, Maryland scored only a split decision over ex-belt-holder Sam Soliman back in June and has not fought since, but deserves immense credit for challenging a noted technician and puncher, who is 34-0 (31) and considered one of the finest pound-for-pound fighters in the world.
This is the next likely bout for GGG after a hoped-for unification match versus WBO king Billy Joe Saunders could not be agreed.
“We made an offer to [Saunders’ promoter] Frank Warren, who said they were looking at going in a different direction for his next fight. I said maybe we can do that fight in future. Saunders is a world champion who earned his title and has big wins over Chris Eubank Jnr and Andy Lee. He’s clearly very dangerous and it’s a huge fight, either in the US or the UK.”
