The WBA have vacant super titles as well as elevate regular champions so there is a distinction, which means Golovkins fight with Geale should count as a defence, as he was the elevated party.

Now obviously multi-titles per weightclass is nothing but a greedy cash grab, however, ducked guys like Golovkin would never even get a shot at the titles if they weren't split, as he became regular champ when the super title was held by Sturm, who refused to face him.