Wade Assault Story Hits TMZ

Not a good look for boxing, or for Domonic Wade, who succumbed easily to acknowledged middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin when they met April 23.

TMZ reports that the Marylander Wade was charged with assault as on Dec. 23, 2015 he got physical with the mother of his child, and then punched her niece in the face when the niece intervened.

Wade, age 26, has pled guilty to an assault count and TMZ says he could get three years in prison for the infraction.

Wade was easily mowed down by GGG, losing in round two. He didn’t look physically in the most stellar condition in the ring that night and didn’t show an immense amount of fire during the brief encounter in LA, which ran on HBO.

People will wonder, should Wade (now 18-1) have been involved in the bout? If not for moral reasons, because one is supposed to be presumed innocent until proven otherwise, then for pragmatic? One would think Wade’s concentration could be affected leading into such a stern test. Then again, people in all walks of life have to continue their work lives even when their personal lives are in tumult.

The show must go on mentality often holds in show business, and this isn’t the first time a fighter has been facing daunting legal issues while he ticks down to a bout. Floyd Mayweather asked the court to let him play his trade and consider his economic impact on Las Vegas as he dealt with charges stemming from a physical attack on the mother of his children, in September 2010. He was sentenced in December 2011, and did three months in the summer of 2012.

I messaged Golovkin promoter Tom Loeffler to get some clarity from his standpoint. Did you all know? Did you contemplate removing Wade as potential foe, if for no other reason than the legal issue could be too distracting? Loeffler made clear he had no idea about any issue regarding Wade. “Wade was ordered by the IBF as the mandatory challenger after Tureano Johnson got injured,” Loeffler said. “We have no control who is ordered as the mandatory and we had no information regarding Wade’s legal status. The IBF made it clear to us that if GGG did not fight Wade next, he would be risking the title that he just won from David Lemieux in a fight which he sold out MSG.”