Golovkin faces big test against Geale

— -- Middleweight titleholder Gennady Golovkin had big plans this summer. He hoped to face super middleweight star Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in the main event of an HBO PPV card that was being put together for July 19 at the Forum in Inglewood, California.

It would have been Golovkin's first appearance on pay-per-view, would have meant a move up to 168 pounds, and it was a matchup that had fireworks written all over it.

It would have been a big deal for Golovkin, one of the fastest-rising attractions in boxing. His side was done, but Chavez, who doesn't seem to know whether he wants to fight anymore, could not come to terms with Top Rank, his promoter. The fight was never consummated, and now Chavez will sit for who knows how long.

But Golovkin was not about to miss out on a summer fight, especially after having to cancel an April 26 fight with Andy Lee following the untimely Feb. 18 death of his father, which left Golovkin deeply saddened during a 40-day ritual mourning period and with many family obligations to handle.

Once the Chavez fight fell apart, Golovkin and his promoter, K2 Promotions' Tom Loeffler, zeroed in on their next choice, and it was a pretty darn good one: former unified middleweight titleholder Daniel Geale, who many believe represents GGG's stiffest test.

We'll find out just how big a test when Golovkin makes his 11th title defense against Geale on Saturday night (HBO, 9:30 ET/PT) at Madison Square Garden in New York -- Golovkin's first fight in the main arena, scaled for about 9,000, after he twice drew raucous crowds to the 5,000-seat MSG Theater.

Golovkin -- whose 89.66 percent knockout ratio is the highest among boxing's active titleholders -- has wanted to fight top opponents, but few have been willing to face him. So four years and all these defenses into his title reign, Geale is clearly, on paper at least, his best opponent.

"Yes, absolutely, because he has a specific style," Golovkin said. "He has proved that in his fights and it will be difficult to solve. Daniel is a great fighter. I have watched his tapes, and the last fight in particular makes me realize this is not going to be an easy fight."

Said trainer Abel Sanchez: "He's the most accomplished guy we've faced so far. But the pressure and the power and the strength of Gennady, there's no one out there at 160 pounds who is going to stay 12 rounds with him."

In the significant co-feature, undefeated heavyweights Mike Perez (20-0-1, 12 KOs), 28, a Cuban defector living in Ireland, meets Philadelphia's Bryant Jennings (18-0, 10 KOs), 29, in an elimination fight that will determine the mandatory challenger for the winner of the fall fight between world titleholder Bermane Stiverne and current mandatory challenger Deontay Wilder.

Golovkin, 32, of Kazakhstan, and Geale, 33, of Australia, have been on a collision course for a couple of years. At one point, after Geale outpointed Felix Sturm in Germany to unify titles in 2012, Golovkin was his mandatory challenger. Rather than facing him, Geale vacated one of his belts to take a big-money rematch with countryman Anthony Mundine, a fight Geale won easily to avenge his first career defeat.

Then Golovkin (29-0, 26 KOs) and Geale were supposed to fight in April, but the fight was not finalized because Geale (30-2, 16 KOs) could not secure the pay-per-view date in Australia due to a conflict with a UFC event that was already scheduled. Golovkin-Lee was then made, but canceled because of the death of Golovkin's father.

Golovkin had knocked out Osumanu Adama in February, so even though the April fight was canceled, he has not had a long layoff. When he returned to Sanchez's gym in Big Bear Lake, California, to begin training in mid-May, he started slowly, perhaps with his father still on his mind.

"Yeah, you're right, maybe for the first time, maybe for my first day I'm not focused," Golovkin said. "It's not 100 percent. In gym, yeah, I understand what I'm doing. I understand my job. Maybe for first day, not 100 percent [focused]. My body, it feels good. My mental [not as much]."

Said Sanchez, "It was kind of hard to get back into the groove but after 2-3 days he was fine. He's an animal. He's a horse. He works harder than anyone I've ever seen. It makes it easy for us."

After Geale avenged the loss to Mundine, he lost his title by split decision to England's Darren Barker in an all-action rumble this past August. He rebounded for a victory against countryman Garth Wood in February, which set him up for Saturday's title shot.

"Gennady has got titles, and I want titles," Geale said. "That's my main goal here. I want to fight the best fighters and I want to win some titles and there is only one way to do that, whether he has a great record or not. You have to get in there and test yourself against the best fighters in the world."

Geale has done that before. He is the rare fighter who has twice gone to Germany and won split decisions against hometown fighters in world title challenges -- against Sturm and Sebastian Sylvester in 2011. Geale is fearless, and said he won't wilt against Golovkin.