IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) looked very strong and in great shape today at his weigh-in with Dominic Wade (18-0, 12 KOs). Both fighters looked like they were ready to step inside the ring and begin throwing punches in their fight this Saturday night on HBO.
Unlike some middleweights, who dehydrate 20+ pounds to get to the middleweight limit, Golovkin and Wade didn’t appear to be that far off their fighting weight for Saturday. Golovkin weighed in at 159lbs. Wade weighed in at 159.6lbs.
Wade has been talking this week about him potentially hurting Golovkin with one of his big power shots. Wade wants to turn the fight into a war so that he can land something big. We’ll see if Wade was truthful about hie comments tomorrow night.
Golovkin needs a win over Wade to put himself in position to either fight for the WBC middleweight title or have it given to him by the World Boxing Council depending on what the winner of the Amir Khan vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez decide to do with the WBC middleweight belt. They could elect to keep it and defend it against Golovkin if he gets past Wade. Many fans believe that Canelo will vacate the WBC title rather than face Golovkin.
The comments that Canelo and his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions have been making recently seems to give one the idea that Canelo will not fight Golovkin at this time. Canelo and Golden Boy will likely face him at some point in the future due to the huge money that is available for them when they do eventually fight him. Canelo has too any easy money options available to him right now for him to take the fight.
The chief support fighters, WBC flyweight champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (44-0, 38 KOs) and McWilliams Arroyo (16-2, 14 KOs), had no problems making weight too. Gonzalez weighed in at 114.4, and Arroyo tipped the scales at 111.6.
The Golovkin-Wade and Gonzalez-Arroyo fight card will be taking place at the Forum in Inglewood, California. A large crowd is expected to turn out to see the event live. Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions had been talking about the fight card selling out, but nothing has been said about the fight being sold out, so there possibly is tickets being sold.