Daniel Geale ready to defend unified boxing titles; Golovkin tops contenders

Oberhausen, Germany (4E Sports) – After adding Felix Sturm’s WBA Super title to his IBF crown via a shocking split decision Saturday, Daniel Geale is ready to stake his unified world titles against some of the other top middleweights.

Geale handed long-time WBA champ Sturm his first loss since 2006 in their middleweight unification bout in Oberhausen, Germany.

Fighting before his countryman, Sturm started the stronger fighter, with his effective jab and accurate punching. But the long-time reigning WBA super German champ was outpunched in the middle and later rounds.

Geale, the IBF middleweight title holder, also showed his technical abilities. He continued his intensity in the final two rounds to win by scores of 116-112, 116-112, 112-116 and be crowned the unified WBA and IBF champion.

Sturm, 33, who was making his 13th defense of title, dropped to 37-3-2. It was his first setback since he suffered a 10th-round TKO in July 2006 against Spain’s Javier Castillejo, who lost the WBA title the following year to Sturm.

The triumph moved Geale to 28-1 with 15 KOs. It also enabled Geale to become the first Australian born fighter to unify two major titles in one division.

It was the third defense of the title Geale won by beating Sebastian Sylvester in Neubrandenburg last May.

The historic win opened up several interesting matchups for the 31-year-old Geale, which include a potential clash with IBO-WBA regular middleweight world champ Gennady Golovkin later this year.

The Kazakhastan power-punching champ Golovkin retained his crown Saturday after demolishing his Polish opponent Grzegorz Proksa and came away with a TKO in the fifth round in Verona, New York.

The WBA has ordered Thursday that the winners of the Geale-Sturm and Golovkin-Proksa fights to meet December 3.

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