Like anyone expected anything else, Gennady Golovkin ploughed his way through the head and body of Dominic Wade to pick up his 35th professional win with a second knockout to remain undefeated and the WBA (Super), IBF, IBO and WBC interim middleweight champion. What’s next for him? He wants Canelo Alvarez.
It’s gotten to the point where it seems like Golovkin is ducking quality competition. Wade was 18-0 going into the fight, but his single note worthy opponent was 42-year old Sam Soliman, and even that was a split decision. It was hard to believe he was going to be the one who troubles Golovkin, who hasn’t needed a decision since his fight against Algeria’s Amar Amari back in 2008. This is the fifth time since 2013 a Golovkin fight hasn’t gotten past the third round.
Golovkin, already 34, knocked down Wade three times in a one sided blowout of a fight that looked like target practice for the unified Middleweight champion. This was the 16th time Golovkin has defended his title, moving his way up to the 20 title defenses record held by Bernard Hopkins. He does own the record for Middleweight knockout record, standing right now at 91.4%, 32 of his 35 fights since becoming a pro in 2006, two years after getting the Silver medal in the Athens Olympics.
Golovkin made over $2 million in under six minutes of work while Wade, the mandatory challenger who’ll probably never get a big fight again, took the $500,000 and disappeared quickly, without anyone really noticing. The guys Golovkin beats seem to never appear again. It’s not just the fact that he roughs them up. It’s the fact that he never fights anyone worth something in terms of championship caliber. It didn’t stop from over 16,000 packing The Forum and cheering him on.
So what’s next? Golovkin claims he wants Alvarez at Middleweight (160), while Canelo is trying to get everyone to fight him at 155. His next fight, on May 7, will be against Amir Khan at 155, which puts the Brit at a huge disadvantage, fighting at Welterweight or lower for his entire career. On the line will be the WBC, The Ring and lineal middleweight titles. Khan hasn’t fought since his May 29 win over Chris Algieri. Alvarez last fought Miguel Cotto in November. He and his team have been trying to hold off the Golovkin fight, and have succeeded, angling for a fall date.
Golovkin wants to unify all the Middleweight belts, and keeps repeating that he doesn’t care about anything else. Some thing he’s been ducking other fighters like Andre Ward, who fights at a higher weight class. Golovkin has never shown any intention of moving up to Super Middleweight or bouncing around the classes. He’s fine at Middleweight. He just wants everyone to catch up with him, which so far, they’ve been unable to do.