Over the weekend it was announced that IBO, WBA and interim WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (33-0, 30KO) will face newly crowned IBF belt holder David Lemieux (34-2, 31KO) at the mecca of boxing, Madison Square Garden, on Saturday, October 17th. Obviously the fight will be broadcast live by HBO but there are talks that it might actually go to Pay-Per-View. With this fight pretty much done, it is giving the proposed bout between Miguel Cotto and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez a run for its money as the best fight for the second half of the year. As of now, the Cotto and Alvarez fight is still being negotiated.
If the Golovkin-Lemieux event does go Pay-Per-View, it will be the culmination of the work Tom Loeffler, who head K2 Promotions, has put together for Golovkin’s career. Ever since Golovkin jumped into the world-wide scene in in late 2012 on HBO with a fifth round knockout of Grzegorz Proksa, the goal for his team is to get him on a big enough fight to command Pay-Per-View. Granted, prior to that fight Golovkin has been fighting for six years but never in the United States and not on HBO. Golovkin had primarily developed his career in Germany and then jumped the pond but landed in Panama where he fought a couple of times before getting the United Sates.
Word of his prowess had made it to America though with his win over the durable Kassim Ouma, a ten round stoppage, being the highlight.
Lemieux had a little better success in getting on U.S. network television a little sooner in his career than Golovkin. Lemieux stopped veteran David Ayala in the first round of a scheduled twelve back in June of 2010 for the vacant WBC middleweight title live on ESPN2. His next shot on the network came nearly a year later but that didn’t end as well for him. In that fight Lemieux was stopped by Mexican Marco Antonio Rubio in seven. Lemieux stayed off American airwaves for several fights but kept fighting in on major cards in Canada, mostly in support of WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson. In May of last year Lemieux made his Showtime debut capturing the NABF 160-pound title with a 3rd round knockout of Fernando Guerrero. He defended the title last December on HBO after signing with Golden Boy Promotions. In that fight Lemieux displayed his aggressive style against the game Gabriel Rosado, sending him to the canvas in the third before stopping him in the seventh. His coming out party was his last fight when he sent Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam down five times before earning the vacant IBF middleweight title on HBO.
Now he will face quite possibly the most feared fighter in the world.
Lemieux should be commended. He could have taken the easy road and defended his newly acquired belt a couple of times in Canada and made quite some coin but he has decided to take on Golovkin. With a win, Lemieux will be the biggest thing in the sport since Cleto Reyes gloves but if he losses, he would just be another knockout victim for the man from Kazahkstan.
