Daniel Geale (born 26 February 1981) is an Australian former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

who competed from 2004 to 2016. He held the unified

WBA (Super) The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is an international professional boxing organization based in Panama. The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level. Founded i ...

and IBF

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

titles between 2011 and 2013, and the IBO middleweight title from 2007 to 2009. As an

amateur boxer An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, self-taught, user-generated, DIY, and hobbyist. History ...

, Geale won a

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

gold medal at the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Manchester, England, ...

Early life

Born in

Launceston, Tasmania Launceston () is a city in the north of Tasmania, Australia, at the confluence of the North Esk River, North Esk and South Esk River, South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River, Tasmania, Tamar River (kanamaluka). As of 2021, the Launc ...

, Geale is of mixed

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

and Aboriginal ancestry.

Amateur career

Other than winning the 2002 Commonwealth Games at welterweight, Geale also represented his native country at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

. He lost in the first round to Italy's

Leonard Bundu Leonard Bundu (born 21 November 1974) is a Sierra Leone-born Italian former professional boxer who competed from 2005 to 2016. He held multiple regional welterweight championships, including the European title twice between 2011 and 2016; the Eur ...

. He was an

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

scholarship holder.

Amateur highlights

2000 Olympic Games The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

in Sydney, Australia as a welterweight: **Lost to

(Italy) 2:4 *

2001 East Asian Games The 3rd East Asian Games were held in Osaka, Japan from May 19 to 27, 2001. The host China and Japan each ended with 191 medals, although China's tally included 85 golds, compared to Japan's 61. Sports The 2001 East Asian Games featured events in ...

in Osaka, Japan: **Defeated

Naoki Hirata Naoki (直樹) is a masculine Japanese given name and surname. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese long jumper *Naoki Bandou, voice actor *, Japanese footballer *Naoki Hattori (born 1966), race car driver *, Japanese footballer *, J ...

(Japan) +12-12 **Lost to

Gennady Golovkin Gennadiy Gennadyevich Golovkin (; also spelled Gennady; born 8 April 1982), often known by his nickname "GGG" or "Triple G", is a Kazakhstani professional boxer. He has held multiple middleweight world championships, and is a two-time former u ...

(Kazakhstan) 3-15 *

in Manchester, won Gold Medal: **Defeated

Tsetsi Davis Chech () or Chechko () is a Bulgarian term describing a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe in modern-day Bulgaria and Greece. It consists of about 60 settlements and was traditionally mostly Pomak ...

(Jamaica) rsf **Defeated

Tony Cesay Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony the Tiger, cartoon mascot for Frosted Flakes cereal * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * M ...

(Sle) 25-13 **Defeated

Daniel Codling Daniel Emile Codling (born 19 July 1979 in Auckland, New Zealand) is a former boxer who won a bronze medal in the 64–69 kg (welterweight) division at the 2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVI ...

(New Zealand) 27-13 **Defeated Kwanele Zulu (South Africa) * 2002 Boxing World Cup in Astana, Kazakhstan: **Lost to Mustafa Karagollu (Turkey) **Lost to Yudel Jhonson (Cuba) RSC 2 *2003 World Championships in Bangkok, Thailand **Lost to

Bakhtiyar Artayev Bakhtiyar Garifollauly Artayev (, ''Baqtiiar Ğarifollaūly Artaev''; born 14 March 1983) is a Kazakh amateur boxer who won the gold medal for Kazakhstan at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He was also the winner of the Val Barker Trophy for the outs ...

(Kazakhstan) 8-30

Professional career

Geale turned pro in 2004, knocking out Danny Bellert in the third round. He then went on to build a record of 17 bouts for 17 wins with 12 KO's. On 14 December 2007, Geale fought for the IBO Middleweight Championship of the world against another undefeated Australian,

Daniel Dawson Daniel "The Rock" Dawson (born 15 October 1977) is an Australian super welterweight kickboxer and boxer, fighting out of Perth, Western Australia. Boxing career Daniel Dawson has a boxing record of 40 wins, 5 losses, and 1 draw. Dawson made ...

, who was 29-0-0 with 20 KO's coming into the fight. Geale outclassed Dawson over 12 rounds to win the IBO Middleweight title with the judges scoring the bout 120-110, 120-110 and 119-109. In June 2008, Geale defended his IBO Middleweight Championship with another 12 round unanimous decision over Geard Ajetovic. In December 2008, Geale faced

Daniel MacKinnon Colonel Daniel Mackinnon (1791 – 22 June 1836) was a Scottish Colonel of the Coldstream Guards who played an important part at the Battle of Waterloo. Family Daniel was the younger son of William Mackinnon, eldest son of the Clan MacKinnon C ...

in a non-title bout. Geale was down in the 8th, McKinnon was down in the 4th, 6th & twice in the 8th, Geale won a unanimous decision with judges scoring the bout 100-87, 100-87, 100-88. In March 2009 Geale defeated

Ian MacKillop Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, which is derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponds to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. This name is a popu ...

with a first-round knockout but in May of that year he lost his next fight in a controversial split decision to former WBA super middleweight champion

Anthony Mundine Anthony Steven Mundine (born 21 May 1975) is an Australian former professional boxer and rugby league footballer. In boxing he competed from 2000 to 2021, and held the World Boxing Association (WBA) super-middleweight title twice between 2003 a ...

to lose his IBO middleweight title. Mundine later stated that he hardly studied Geale during his training camp for the fight. Geale however, would rebound from the controversial defeat with 3 wins including an IBF Eliminator setting himself up for a world title shot.

IBF middleweight champion

In May 2011, Geale defeated

Sebastian Sylvester Sebastian Sylvester (born 9 July 1980) is a German former professional boxer who competed from 2002 to 2011 and held the IBF middleweight title from 2009 to 2011. Professional career In March 2007 Sylvester retained the WBA Inter-Continental ...

in Germany by split decision (scores of 118-110, 118-112, 110-118) to become the new IBF middleweight world champion. In August 2011, he made his first successful title defense against contender Eromosele Albert, winning by unanimous decision. Geale made his second successful IBF title defense by defeating Ghana's

Osumanu Adama Osumamu Adama (born December 24, 1980) is a Ghanaian professional boxer in the middleweight division, and the first middleweight titleholder from Ghana. Early life One of nine children, Osamamu grew up in Accra into a large family, and helped t ...

via unanimous decision (scores of 118-110, 117-111, 115-113) on 7 March 2012.

Unified middleweight champion

On 1 September 2012 Geale defeated long time WBA champion Felix Sturm in

Oberhausen Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen ( ). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Rout ...

, Germany via split decision (scores of 116-112, 116-112, 112-116), thus unifying the WBA title with his already held IBF title . Geale's reign as unified champion was short-lived, as two months after winning the WBA title, he was stripped of it for choosing to fight

in a rematch over

mandatory challenger In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight (in a mandatory defence) or be forced to vacate their title as champion. The opposite of a mandatory defence is a ''volunt ...

. Geale was punished for Sturm's refusal to fight mandatory challengers when he was champion. When Geale won the title, the WBA gave him four-and-a-half months instead of the regular nine to defend against the mandatory - in this case Golovkin. Their reasoning was that their mandatory challengers had been ignored for too long.

Geale vs. Mundine II

On 30 January 2013 Geale beat Anthony Mundine in a unanimous points decision (scores of 116-112, 117-111, 117-111) at the Sydney Entertainment Centre to retain his IBF middleweight world title. Immediately after ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr. read out the result, Mundine and his entourage stormed out of the ring and left the arena.

Geale vs. Barker

On 17 August 2013, Geale fought British fighter

Darren Barker Darren Barker (born 19 May 1982) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2013. He held multiple titles at middleweight, including the IBF title in 2013; the Commonwealth title from 2007 to 2009; the British title in 20 ...

for Geale's IBF

Middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

world title in Atlantic City. Despite knocking down Barker in the sixth round, Geale lost in a split-decision.

Geale vs. Golovkin

In what was billed as the biggest night of his career and taking place in the legendary

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

, Geale lost by TKO in the third round to the Kazakh

. Entering the fight as the clear underdog with Golovkin listed by most bookmakers as the 14 to 1 favourite and despite having fought, according to Golovkin "like a champion", Geale was clearly outclassed by Golovkin when during the final exchange Golovkin counterpunched Geale after Geale had connected with a right to the Kazakh's head.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* * *
Daniel Geale - Bujutsu Martial Arts Centre
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geale, Daniel 1981 births Living people Indigenous Australian boxers Boxers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Olympic boxers for Australia Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Sportspeople from Launceston, Tasmania Australian Institute of Sport boxers Indigenous Australian Olympians International Boxing Federation champions World Boxing Association champions International Boxing Organization champions Indigenous Tasmanian people Australian male boxers Light-middleweight boxers Super-middleweight boxers World middleweight boxing champions Welterweight boxers Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Sportsmen from Tasmania 21st-century Australian sportsmen Commonwealth Games gold medallists in boxing