WBA set to strip Daniel Geale of title for choosing Mundine over Golovkin

The WBA is reportedly planning to strip middleweight 'super' champion Daniel Geale of his title for not facing Gennady Golovkin, instead choosing a January rematch with Anthony Mundine for his next fight.

This is a fairly comical move, given that Golovkin has been waiting for his title shot since 2010, and the WBA never did much of anything as far as forcing ex-champion Felix Sturm to actually fight him, allowing Sturm several optional defenses, even letting him hold on to the title through a promotional dispute with Universum that kept him out of the ring from July 2009 until September 2010.

It was upon his return, in fact, that Sturm had been elevated to 'super' champion status, allowing Golovkin to be elevated to regular champion status from interim champion. (And before you go thinking the interim tag made any sense, keep in mind Golovkin won the interim title in August 2010, when Sturm's return was already scheduled, and that he was elevated to regular champion for his December 2010 fight.)

While not facing Golovkin, Sturm was allowed fights with Ronald Hearns, Matthew Macklin, Martin Murray, and Sebastian Zbik, all WBA-sanctioned title defenses.

From where I'm sitting, this positively reeks of a move designed not so much to get Golovkin anything he wants, but probably to get Sturm in a fight for the "vacant" title -- Golovkin still holds the WBA belt, and by their own rules, that wouldn't change his status from regular to super, but rules are whatever they need to be that day in the boxing world. If it winds up with Sturm-Golovkin finally happening, I guess that's nice, but Geale is pretty clearly being shafted a bit here.

If he does wind up stripped, Geale will still hold the IBF title.