Golovkin set to fight Daniel Geale on July 26

WBA middleweight Gennady Golovkin (29-0, 26 KO’s) is to defend his title next against former IBF/WBA champion Daniel Geale (30-2, 16 KO’s) of Australia on July 26 at Madison Square Garden.

Kazakh hard-hitter Golovkin had applied for an exemption to bypass mandatory challenger Australian Jarrod Fletcher in order to take a bigger and far more interesting fight against Geale.

Golovkin has stopped all of his last 16 opponents but now really needs notable opposition. He was in negotiations to face Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in a super middleweight fight in July, but that is on hold, at the very least, because Chavez is currently at odds with Top Rank.

Geale has only fought once since losing his IBF title on points to Englishman Darren Baker last August - defeating countryman Garth Wood in February.

It’s possible that the co-feature will see Bryant Jennings and Mike Perez facing each other in a battle of unbeaten heavyweights.