Photo by Hogan Photos/Golden Boy Promotions
Two gladiators will collide when Middleweights Gennady Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) and David Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs) face off in an old-fashioned dust-up on Saturday evening, in an unmissable night of world championship boxing.
The mouthwatering event will be held at the Mecca of Boxing, Madison Square Garden, New York, with Golovkin’s IBO, interim WBC, and WBA world Super Middleweight titles on the line as well as Lemieux’s IBF strap.
But it will be the ferocious punching power on display that has made it one of the marquee fights of the year.
Their unprecedented stats are chilling, and it’s this feature which is dominating the bouts narrative.
Boding the highest knockout in Middleweight history, “Triple G” has demolished 91 percent of his opponents, and last went the distance in June 2008 with Amar Amari, just one of three brave souls to survive the Golovkin onslaught.
But whilst Golovkin can deliver that coup de grace, Lemieux showcases hellacious combinations that overwhelm opponents.
Hassam N’Dam felt the full-fledged force of Lemieux’s furious flurries back in June when he was floored four times in their bout for the vacant IBF belt.
Averaging just 4.4 rounds per fight, Golovkin is beaten to the punch by Lemieux who takes a mere 3.4 rounds to demolish his foes, emphasizing the imminent fireworks at the sound of the first bell.
It’s a combination of these styles and statistics which has made the event unique in its entirety, drawing in exuberant fans because of the relentless action it promises.
This expectation assures it to be more of an occasion than a boxing match, inevitably drumming up a cauldron of excitement long before fight night.
But despite the potential to deliver so much, the matchup has garnered criticism from some sections of the boxing community.
Martin Murray, who lost to Golovkin in a one-sided contest earlier on in the year, dismissed the hype in an interview to IFL TV claiming it’s an easy fight for the Kazakh.
There’s no bitterness in Murray’s views. The Canadian is a big underdog, and we would’t expect anything else considering his counterparts elite status.
It’s also a truism that Golovkin’s crushing performances have produced an air of invincibility, destroying opponents mentally before they’ve even entered the ring.
Many simply crumble within a few rounds, overwhelmed by the gargantuan assignment. Others show tremendous heart, surviving to the later rounds until any further punishment becomes physically impossible.
However Lemieux’s pedigree, style and champion status make this contest a dissimilar proposition.
Until now, Golovkin’s most notable opponents Daniel Geale, Murray, Marco Antonio Rubio, and Willie Monroe Jr. lacked the power to gain the respect of the Middleweight machine.
Untroubled and unblemished, he dished out punishment knowing he was dictating the direction and pace of the fight.
It’s Lemieux, whose street fighting style, throwing punches in bunches, can amount a sustained attack to trouble one of the most feared fighters in the sport.
Lemieux’s blistering combinations can expose the glimpses of defensive lapses that Golovkin has exhibited in recent bouts, who insists it’s just a ploy to delight spectators.
True or not, it’s an enigma that will be answered when these two standout-stars slug it out, and whether it ends in a Round 1 bludgeoning, or a 12-round war of attrition, it’s impossible for this fight-of-the-year contender to disappoint.
