THE men in Daniel Geale's corner are in no doubt he will cap his illustrious career on boxing's greatest stage next month.
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The 33-year-old takes on German- based Kazakh Gennady Golovkin for the WBA and IBO world titles at New York's Madison Square Garden knowing he has his whole country fighting with him.
"The people of Australia believe in me and that's what drives me, my countrymen," he said.
"I want to show them they have a great champion. On July 26, the world will see me back on top."
Geale's US promoter Gary Shaw officially announced the 12-round HBO bout by throwing his weight behind the Tasmanian yesterday.
"Daniel Geale is a throwback fighter who has never backed down from a tough challenge and his mindset is no different going into the Golovkin fight," Shaw said.
"GGG is considered the top dog in the middleweight division by those in the business, but I believe Geale is the best. We will see how Golovkin fares against someone on his level.
"I have confidence Geale will come out on top."
Co-promoter Bill Treacy, of Sydney-based Geale's Grange Old School Boxing, said they were delighted to finally lock down Golovkin, after a previous date between the middleweights in April fell through.
"Of all the potential fights this is the one he wants the most," Treacy said.
"I firmly believe Daniel is the most talented middleweight in the world. The opportunity to return stateside in the main event on a HBO show at Madison Square Garden for two world titles is the ultimate motivation for him to put it beyond doubt."
Referred to by his promoter Tom Loeffler as "the hottest international star in boxing", Golovkin, 32, takes an impressive record of 26 knockouts from his 29 pro victories into the fight but is wary of Geale, whose two losses from 30 fights included to Englishman Darren Barker in New Jersey last year.
"I'm happy to be fighting at Madison Square Garden once again," Golovkin said.
"Fighting in front of the great fans in New York City for the third time is an honour for me and I will train hard to defend my titles in style by giving the fans an exciting show.
"Daniel Geale has a lot of world championship experience, is a big international name and I look forward to this challenge."
With the highest knockout ratio (89 per cent) among all active champions, Golovkin has earned plaudits for both fighter and knockout of the year from media members.