In his most recent outing, Wade was victorious against former world champion Sam Soliman in June 2015, thus earning his mandatory challenger position with the IBF.
“I learned a great deal from that fight,” said the 26-year-old Wade under the current tutelage of trainer Jay Stancil. “Fighting Soliman it was very difficult to keep my composure but I kept my focus throughout and persevered. He was holding and trying to throw me down, it was definitely a learning experience and I’m better off for it.”
Soliman had previously twice defeated former world champion Felix Sturm, both times traveling to Germany for the fights.
“I’ve increased the tempo and the training for this fight. I know how good Gennady is and for me to win I have to give myself the best chance. We’ve done a lot more strength and conditioning, mixing up 5-6 miles runs with sprints in the morning.”
“I didn’t want to take any baby steps towards facing Gennady, there’s no reason for that. Other fighters try to delay or get around fighting him, my time is now. When the fight was mentioned I told my manager to make the fight and let’s go to work. I may never get this shot again.”
“Of course I’ve followed him and watched most of his recent fights, he’s a very good fighter, very strong but I’m also very confident in my abilities. This is my chance to be the middleweight champion of the world, my goal since I was a kid fighting in the amateurs.”
