This coming Wednesday, (December 3, 2014) Australia’s Horden Pavilion hosts a Middleweight bout between Australians Daniel Geale and Jarrod Fletcher. Both men are looking to get their careers back on track after sustaining losses in high profile matches in the States. Right now at Several Bookmakers, Geale is the favorite at (-320), with the comeback on Fletcher at (+240). Geale and Fletcher will duel for IBF and WBO Pacific titles, and for Geale this is a step back to get his ship righted. Back in September of 2012, Geale won the World Middleweight title from Felix Sturm, and he returned to defend that belt against rival Anthony Mundine, before losing it to Darren Barker in August of 2013. Geale won a fight in February of 2014 against Garth Wood, and then in July he was pasted by all-world Gennady Golovkin in a bid to regain a piece of the Middleweight title. Geale is (30-3) overall and he held the IBF version of the World Middleweight belt from in May of 2011. He has a 4-2 record in World title matches and at 33 years old he is eager to get back onto the world scene. Fletcher comes with a long and distinguished amateur career which includes wins over fighters that have been very succesful in the professional ranks, such as Adonis Stevenson and 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist James DeGale. He has a fine pro mark of (18-2) and his losses are not to slouches, as he dropped a match to Britain’s Billy Joe Saunders. In his last outing he lost to Daniel Jacobs in a bid for the vacant WBA Middleweight title. Fletcher got dropped in round one and was never in the fight again, as Jacobs got the stop in the fifth. Geale has been on the world scene for a longer time, and Fletcher is still trying to work his way in that door and get a win. Geale is just two years older than Fletcher, but he has double the fights, including his six world title bouts. Some of that experience is mitigated by Fletcher’s amateur background, as he has competed since he was 10 years old. With his resume, a loss would be bad for Geale, but he could still get the call when a surging fighter needs a name to build up their career. For Fletcher, things are a bit more serious, as a loss to Geale may mean that he has had his taste of the world level and that is all. That is serious for a guy who has had his sites set on that level since he was very young.
