Gennady Golovkin-David Lemieux Preview

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Gennady Golovkin David LemieuxThis weekend, the eyes of the boxing world will be fixated on the man known as Boxing’s New Superstar, The Big Drama Show, and more regularly known just “GGG,” Gennady Golovkin. A sold out Madison Square Garden in NYC will host the K2 Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions event, as Gennady Golovkin will be putting his WBA, IBO, and interim WBC World Middleweight belts on the line against David Lemieux and his IBF World Middleweight belt, all live on HBO Pay Per View.

If you have paid any attention to boxing over the past year or two, you’ve heard the name Golovkin or GGG. Golovkin is one of the few people that you can go up to casual fans and say his name, and they’ll actually know his name and reply “Oh Triple G!” Gennady Golovkin has become one of the top 5-6 names in the sport.

At 33 years old, he now headlines his 1st PPV bout and hope to continue the path of destruction that he has caused with his undefeated record of 33-0 with 30 KOs.

The man that will be starring onto the eyes of GGG on Saturday night will be Canada’s own David Lemieux. The 26-year-old, hard punching, man from Quebec will also be stepping into the ring with a pulverizing record of 34-2 with 31 KOs. This is his chance to shock the world as a 16-1 underdog on an event that could have over 20k people in the crowd and a few more hundred thousand people watching at home.

Golovkin’s best wins have come against the likes of Gabe Rosado, Matthew Macklin, Martin Murray, and Daniel Geale. He 1st hit the American radar when he defeated Grzegorz Proska in his 1st HBO-televised event back in September of 2012, but it was after his dominating win against Curtis Stevens that eyes started to take a closer look at GGG. Since that point, Golovkin has been known as one of the most avoided fighters in the sport. However, one of the knocks on Golovkin is that he gets hit too much, now he faces his toughest challenger and the hardest puncher he’s ever faced. Will his chin hold up?

Before his last fight against Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, David Lemieux’s only real test came against Marco Antonio Rubio almost four years ago. He was stopped in the 7th round in a fight that most people had him winning four rounds to two at the time of the stoppage. In that fight, it seemed like stamina was a huge part of the reason Lemieux could not continue as his constant pressure style is very hard to keep up for an entire fight. However, as I said, that was four years ago. Has his stamina gotten better? How will he hold up taking punches from one of the hardest punchers in the sport?

Golovkin and his team have had one said goal since day one, unify the middleweight belts. He is now two wins away from doing that. If he defeats Lemieux, he will sit and wait for the winner of the Miguel Cotto vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fight, which will take place in Las Vegas on November 21st. Golovkin has previously tried to fight Cotto, but no agreement has been made between the two.

The WBC organization has announced that Golovkin will be the mandatory for the winner of that fight since Cotto currently holds the actual WBC Belt. It will be interesting to see how the entire situation plays out depending on who wins that bout in November. A possible Canelo vs. GGG could be a fantasy dream fight for boxing fans and could decide the new top dog in the sport.

Lemieux knows that this is his chance to not only flip the boxing landscape but also to throw his name out there as a possible star in the sport. Lemieux is already a star in Canada and has sold well at the Bell Centre, but now he can make that crossover from being a Canadian star to a North American star if he can pull this off. Lemieux is still only 26 years old and his fighting style, like Golovkin’s, is very fan friendly. He comes forward, knocks people out, and although he might not have the technical skill of GGG, in boxing, a KO is a KO.

This is a fight that isn’t expected to go than 3-4 rounds. Both guys have not only power but one punch power. I also think that neither guy will be able to stand a solid straight punch from the other. So the real key to the fight will be who can avoid that shot. We have never seen Lemieux step back or trying to box an opponent while we have seen Golovkin do that. In my mind, that is the difference in this fight. Unless Lemieux can get into the body of Golovkin, I think the end punch will come off a Golovkin counter right. Because of that, my prediction is Golovkin by 4th round stoppage.

With Floyd Mayweather retiring and Manny Pacquiao one fight from the same, there has been a lot of talk about who will be the new face of boxing. Guys like Timothy Bradley don’t “talk” enough and guys like Wladimir Klitschko and Cotto are nearing the end. The answer to that question could rest between Keith Thurman, the previously mentioned Canelo Alvarez, and Gennady Golovkin. Not bad for a scrawny kid from Kazakhstan, right? Enjoy the fight.