Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images
In what was supposed to be the toughest fight of his career, Gennady Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) outclassed and dominated David Lemieux (34-3, 31 KOs) en route to an eighth-round stoppage to unify the WBA, IBO, interim WBC and IBF Middleweight titles at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The scheduled 12-round fight headlined an HBO pay-per-view event that was promoted by K2 Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions.
Although many expect an all-out war of the Hagler-Hearns variety, there was something definitely overlooked in this assumption: Golovkin’s superb boxing skills.
The 33-year-old native of Kazakhstan established his jab early and snapped Lemieux’s head back with ease, while Lemieux jabbed from a distance and threw right hands to find a way inside.
From the very beginning, it was clear that the 26-year-old native of Montreal, Canada would have trouble closing the distance as Golovkin began landing right hands in Round 2.
Golovkin continued to control the fight with his jab and, to defend against Lemieux’s offense, Golovkin either took a step back, rolled the shot with his shoulder or blocked it with his glove with ease.
In Round 5, Golovkin landed a solid left hook to the body that immediately dropped Lemieux. Luckily for Lemieux, who was wincing in pain, there was less than ten seconds to go in the round.
Lemieux would land the occasional right hand in the following rounds, but Golovkin continued his dominance, backing Lemieux up with a jab before landing hooks and uppercuts.
“I felt his power, but I was strong tonight and my punches hurt him,” said Golovkin, who is trying to improve his English with each fight.
In Round 8, after Lemieux took several shots including a left hook to the body, referee Steve Willis stopped the fight.
“I feel like the referee called the fight too early,” said Lemieux.
“When he stopped it I wasn’t event on the mat, I can keep going,” Lemieux continued before saying that he’d want a rematch in the future.
Lemieux was taking a lot of punishment and even looked at the referee before the fight was stopped. Nevertheless, it was clear that Lemieux was a game challenger who would have continued looking for opportunities to hurt Golovkin.
As for the newly unified champion, there are other belts to be won in the division, including Andy Lee’s WBO title.
“I want all the belts, now I have two,” said Golovkin, and also included the winner of the fight between Miguel Cotto and Canelo Alvarez on the list of possible opponents.
Cotto currently holds the WBC and lineal title and will put it on the line against Alvarez on November 21.
Whether or not that will happen remains to be see, but who do you think Golovkin fights next?
Let us know in the comment section below.
#GolovkinLemieux pic.twitter.com/8slSWBGxXg
— RoundByRoundBoxing (@RBRBoxing) October 18, 2015
