NEW YORK CITY — Gennady Golovkin made quick work of Daniel Geale, stopping the Australian veteran at 2:47 of Round 3 to retain his WBA middleweight title in front of a good-sized crowd at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

Golovkin (30-0, 27 knockouts) scored a knockdown in Round 2 and then caught Geale during an exchange in Round 3, dropping the former WBA/IBF beltholder with a big right hand after catching a right hand himself. Geale got up on wobbly legs after the second knockdown and reeled back into the ropes where referee Mike Ortega waved the fight off.

The knockout was the 17th consecutive knockout scored by Golovkin, THE RING’s No. 1-rated middleweight, who is from Kazakhstan but lives in Germany and trains in Southern California. Geale (30-3, 16 KOs), THE RING’s No. 2-rated middleweight, had never been stopped in a professional bout prior to Saturday’s fight.

A full ringside report by Tim Smith will be posted shortly.