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Gennady Golovkin may not have landed the biggest fight possible but he will certainly end the year with the biggest fight of his career. WBA, WBC and IBO champion Golovkin will attempt to annex the IBF version of the middleweight title on October 17th when he faces Canadian banger David Lemieux in a title unification bout at the Madison Square Garden in New York.
The Destroyer
Gennady Golovkin has left a trail of destruction in boxing’s middleweight class, beating all 33 of the opponents he’s faced while knocking out 30 of them. His 90.9% KO rate is the highest ever in the history of middleweight boxing and he enters the Lemieux bout with a string of 20 consecutive knockout victories which includes 14 title fights. But the problem with Gennady Golovkin however is that he’s been scary good that big named opponents have used one reason after another to avoid facing him inside the ring. Not David Lemieux.
Ready for Superstardom
The 26-year old Montreal, Canada native won the IBF middleweight title in a one-sided beat down of former WBO middleweight champion Hassan N’Dam last June in Canada. Prior to beating N’Dam, Lemieux was the NABF Middleweight titleholder beating Fernando Guerrero and Gabriel Rosado in his immediate previous bouts. Lemieux himself is a heavy hitter, with 31 of his 34 victories won by knockout. But Lemieux’s rise in the sport was nearly ended before it even began when he suffered back to back losses to Marco Antonio Rubio and Joachim Alcine in 2011. Those defeats are the only losses in Lemieux’s 36-fight career and it’s safe to say that he’s gotten over that hump and is ready for super stardom.
Making the Best Fights Happen
Golovkin versus Lemieux has been lauded by fans and experts alike to be one of the best made fights in recent memory. The sport has been tainted by politics and promotional rivalries which have denied us of many great match-ups over the years. Credit goes to Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy and David Lemieux himself who didn’t hesitate in taking a fight many bigger stars refused to because of the high risks. For Golovkin who has been looking for a marquee opponent for years, David Lemieux isn’t Miguel Cotto or Canelo Alvarez but he is definitely legit and many classes better than Willie Monroe Jr or Martin Murray, his last two opponents. He will not only face a better foe but he will fight someone who like him has dynamite packed in his punches. Lemieux has won 7 of his last 8 bouts by KO or TKO. Only N’Dam went the distance but even he went down four times in that bout.
Who Takes This?
Golovkin is a -1400 favorite in most sports books while Lemieux is a +700 underdog. David Lemieux is the best opponent Golovkin has ever been matched up with and he does pack a lot of power in his punches, too. But remember that in Lemieux’s loss to Rubio in 2011, he faded late in the fight and was dropped by the same fighter Golovkin knocked out in 2 rounds two years later. On the other hand, what makes Golovkin special isn’t just his KO power but a granite chin which has never been knocked down, much more knocked out in over 37 fights both as an amateur and as a professional. Having said that, we’ll see how durable that chin is against arguably the hardest hitter he’s ever faced. This one should be an all-action fight because both fighters fight only one way: move forward. However, while Golovkin’s chin is a legend, Lemieux’s is still a suspect. We’ll see one of the most exciting fights of the year, but once Lemieux obliges in a mano-e-mano battle with GGG, this fight won’t go the distance. We’re picking Golovkin to win by KO in the middle rounds.
