Gennady Golovkin to defend titles against Dominic Wade on April 23
WBA/IBF middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) will defend his titles against mandatory challenger Dominic Wade (18-0, 12 KOs) on April 23 at the Forum in Inglewood, California.
The Kazakh fighter stopped David Lemieux in the 8th round in October to add the IBF title to his WBA 'super' belt, which he retained for the 15th time.
The knockout was Golovkin's 21st in a row.
If Golovkin gets past Wade, as expected, a much anticipated super-fight against WBC middleweight champion Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez looms later in the year, but in addition, Canelo needs to beat Britain's Amir Khan on May 7.
Golovkin said: "I’m happy to fight again at the Forum in front of my fans and friends in Los Angeles. Dominic Wade is a very hungry and skilled middleweight who is undefeated and will be another big test for me."
Wade is a good puncher and was a good amateur, but he is taking a huge step up in competition as a professional. He gets the chance after previous mandatory challenger Tureano Johnson pulled out of negotiations with Golovkin due to a shoulder injury.
The unbeaten American is coming off a narrow points win over former world champion Sam Soliman last june.
"I am so grateful to be given the opportunity to fight GGG on April 23rd," said Wade. "I've worked hard my entire career to get to this point. I'm poised and ready to take on the challenge."
WBC flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez (44-0, 38 KOs) is expected to defend his title on the card against an opponent to be determined.
The pound-for-pound king Gonzalez, of Nicaragua, stopped former world champion Brian Viloria in the 8th round on the Golovkin-Lemieux card in his last outing.