Should Daniel Geale fight Garth Wood?

Before I start, I believe Wood had luck on his side and was in the right place at the right time to beat Mundine. Should they rematch, I believe Mundine would return the KO.

That aside, there is no doubt Australian mainstream media has gone abuzz with this stunning upset and you would think Wood's next fight would generate a decent amount of publicity regardless of the opponent (certainly much more than his talent deserves).

Now enter Daniel Geale - 24-1 - one of our most exciting yet relatively unknown contenders to come out of Australia. Granted he would be taking a step backwards in terms of opponents (especially after his impressive stoppage of Karmazin), but in terms of marketability this could just be the fight which puts his name in the papers.

At the moment there are rumours of Geale facing Sylvester in Germany, which should he win, would generate a huge amount of credibility but unlikely to stir up major interest back in Australia as he just doesn't have that profile at the moment.

My rationale is Geale face Wood in early 2011, which he should defeat Wood comfortably and hopefully by KO to have an effect on the mass media. Now Geale is nicely seated to either lure Mundine into a rematch for beating the guy who embarrisngly KO him or he can skip Mundine and face another fighter on the same calibre as Karmazin. If Sylvester is still interested then so be it.

Geale is potentially looking at two very nice paydays and media attention against Wood and Mundine. The ripple effect? Other international contender's may call him out saying he is only fighting 'bums' or whatever, which could make it easier to lure a top contender or even a champion to fight in Australia. If not, he can continue his path to the top and chase somebody on their home turf.

On a side note, in terms of credibility he may not need to avenge the loss to Mundine if he beats Wood: To us boxing fans we know if fighter A beats B, and B beats C, it doesn't automatically mean fighter A beats C, however to the casual fan this is good enough for Geale to "win" by default. Personally I believe Geale won the first fight, and would like to see him avenge the unjust decision.

I've always been adament that 2011 will be a make-or-break year for Geale, so it is important he at least gets one credible opponent in to set his stocks for 2012 when he will make his move. Get the money and publicity with Wood and Mundine, then go after Sylvester as planned.

Middleweight division is yours.


**Also fyi for those who treat boxrec.com's rankings as the bible; Wood is ranked the number #5 middleweight in the world right now!

 

I'm not talking credibility, I'm thinking from a promoters point of view. You could sell this fight to Australia. Here we have the guy who "lost" to Mundine face the guy who KO Mundine. Obviously this is a mismatch when discussed on a boxing forum, but put this in the newspapers and you got a bit of hype going in there.

As long as Geale doesn't take this fight lightly, the possible financial and promotional reward he could gain outweighs the risk he'd have to take.