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In a few weeks from now, IBF middleweight boss Daniel Geale faces the challenge of Darren Barker in Atlantic City.
Why Barker and not unification matches against the likes of WBA champion Gennady Golovkin, WBO titlist Peter Quillin or WBC kingpin Sergio Martinez?
Could it be that Team Geale are stringing out their run as a world champion and would rather not see that reign come to an end? Or perhaps, the other champions are just not available for swapping punches this month?
That might be true of Martinez, who usually fights once every six or seven months but was last out at the end of April against Martin Murray so we shouldn’t expect Sergio back on the boards until at least November.
Golovkin generally is in action every two to four months and given the fact that he barley broke a sweat and was probably not even hit in three rounds against Matt Macklin at the end of June, one would think he’d be available?
The same could be said of Quillin, who typically fights every four to seven months and is coming off a victory over Fernando Guerrero at the end of April.
There is, however, the time it takes to build up the PR hustle for a big unification fight, usually six months, so that could explain why Geale, 29-1 (15), is facing Barker.
Former European, British and Commonwealth champion Barker, 25-1 (16), is certainly not a bad fighter, actually, he’s quite a tidy boxer but, he’s not a top level operator.
And that class of opponent is just who Geale has been facing since winning the IBF strap more than two years ago.
Let’s take a look at who Geale has faced since becoming IBF champ:
Eromosele Albert: went 3-3-1 in last seven bouts prior to fighting Geale, losing to James Kirkland, Zauerbek Baysangurov and Derek Ennis.
Osumanu Adama: went 7-2 in previous nine contests before the Geale bout, losing to Don George and Dyah Davis in that span.
Felix Sturm: reigning but clearly washed up WBA titlist going into Geale contest who had faced an endless list of second raters and was arguably defeated by Macklin and Murray in his previous two title defenses.
Anthony Mundine: former two-time WBA super middle beltholder, who had not faced a decent opponent since defeating Geale four years earlier for the IBO strap, yet had still struggled, getting KO’d by someone named Garth Wood, and was clearly well past his best by the time of the Geale rematch.
While these contests are explainable in the business sense, ie, Albert was the traditional low hurdle first defense, Adama had previously won an IBF eliminator, Sturm was a unification bout and Mundine was a revenge fight, that line of approach should have ended with the August 17 date rather than continued with the Barker clash.
Isn’t it time Team Geale went after bigger fish?
The Tasmanian native is an excellent boxer and he could possibly pull off upsets against both Quillin, who can punch but hasn’t been truly tested, and Martinez, who has clearly started to slip over the last two years and who knows, maybe even Golovkin, terrifying as his abilities and power have been up to this point, has yet to face someone of sufficient ability who can either take his punches or make him miss and pay for the mistake.
But, we’ll never know if Geale continues on his current path.
