There is much hype and expectation surrounding October’s crunch middleweight unification showdown between murderous punching WBA (sup) champion Gennady Golovkin and big-hitting IBF belt holder David Lemieux.
The two are set to meet at the famous Madison Square Garden on HBO PPV with the winner set to face the victor of November’s Cotto/Canelo WBC title fight, and going into the mouth watering match-up, Golovkin believes that in Lemieux he will meet his toughest test to date.
“[Lemieux] is a dangerous guy and a smart guy,” he said on ESPN.com’s ‘Making the Rounds’. “I think it’s a great fight for us. This is the biggest fight for me and he is the toughest challenge.”
While Lemieux is no doubt a different and more dangerous fighter that the one who was stopped by Marco Antonio Rubio and immediately outpointed by Joachim Alcine in 2011, he still has a tendency to abandon defence and throw caution to the wind when throwing his wild bombs, things Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez plans to exploit.
“Watching Lemieux, I really don’t think he’s the kind of puncher that people make him out to be,” he said. “He seems to be real wide and seems to be more of a thudding puncher (rather) than a snapping puncher.”
“I think for the Rubio fight (Lemieux) was a little young. Joe Louis got knocked out by (Max) Schmeling early in his career and came back.
“I think that (Lemieux) was young and not ready for a step up of that level against an experienced guy who took everything. It had to be discouraging when he hit Rubio with everything and he didn’t go anywhere. I think it was more of a mental thing for him.”
Sanchez also disagrees that Lemieux will be Gennady’s toughest test, crediting that accolade to New Yorker Curtis Stevens, whom Golovkin made retire after 8 rounds in 2013, rather than Britain’s Martin Murray, who dragged him 11 rounds before succumbing back in February;
“I don’t think (DL is toughest). I think Curtis Stevens was tougher,” Sanchez added.
“Stevens is more a sharp, short puncher and compact, where Lemieux is a little wide with his shots and is a bit slower. But he is tough.
“As soon as Lemieux feels the first jab, it’s going to be a different fight. Just like when (Golovkin) knocked Adama down with the jab (in Round 1 /February 2014), he didn’t even try to hit him hard. As soon as Lemieux tastes that first jab, it’s a different story.”
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