https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtXnB_P0dP0&feature=youtu.be

By Dan Ambrose: Sugar Shane Mosley doesn’t expect IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs) to last more than 2 or 3 rounds tops in his unification fight against WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) in their fight on October 17th on HBO pay-per-view from Madison Square Garden in New York.

Mosley is well familiar with Golovkin and what he’s capable of doing in the ring. However, Mosley isn’t completely ruling out a victory for the 26-year-old Lemieux if he gets lucky and lands a big shots, but he still sees Golovkin winning the fight with ease.

Mosley sees this fight as a test for Golovkin to see how well he does in terms of his pay-per-view potential on HBO. If he fails to bring in a lot of PPV buys, Mosley expects Golovkin to be brought back to regular HBO for a few fights before being brought back later to PPV to see if he’s improved with his ability to bring in PPV buys.

“I really think Triple G is going to cut down the ring,” Mosley said about Golovkin’s fight against Lemieux via thaboxingvoice. “He [Golovkin] knows this is his opportunity to be on top, and to be the superstar everyone wants him to be. I think Lemieux might not even go a couple of rounds, maybe 2 or 3 rounds maybe. I think the next fight [for Golovkin against the Cotto-Canelo winner] is going to be the good fight,” Mosley said.

It’s certainly going to be very difficult for Lemieux to go more than a few rounds because he’s so wide open when he fights. He’s not someone that Golovkin will have to go hunting for in this fight. He’ll be right there in front of Golovkin leaving himself open by trying to punch with him.

This is Golovkin’s big chance to prove himself to the fans and to HBO. This means that Golovkin isn’t going to be taking it easy on Lemieux in this fight in order to extend the fight into the later rounds like he supposedly did with Willie Monroe Jr. and Martin Murray in his last two fights this year.

Golovkin will be looking to take Lemieux’s head off as soon as possible because he realizes that the Canadian fighter hits too hard for him to leave around in the ring, and because he needs to impress the boxing fans that are paying to see the fight on HBO PPV. Golovkin must give them an impressive knockout so that the fans get their money’s worth in plunking down $45 to see it on PPV.

“I think it’s pay-per-view worthy on the low totem pole,” Mosley said about the Golovkin-Lemieux fight. “They’re trying to get a picture of where Golovkin is at as far as pay-per-view to see if they can make him the next star or not. If he gets 1 million to 2 million buys, they’re going to do pay-per-view all the time. If he gets low buys, they’re going to go ‘maybe he’s not pay-per-view yet. They’ll then put him on the regular channel a couple of times and then do a pay-per-view. They want to see how big he is, and they’re assuming he’s going to win. Whoever wins out of Canelo-Cotto will be his next opponent.”

Mosley shouldn’t assume that the winner of the Cotto vs. Canelo fight will agree to fight Golovkin, especially if he looks really good in obliterating Lemieux. We could see the winner of the Cotto-Canelo fight head for the hills and resume fighting guys like Delvin Rodriguez, Daniel Geale, James Kirkland and Alfredo Angulo types. Canelo and Cotto have been playing it safe for a while now. I can’t see them breaking out of that mold to face a dangerous threat like Golovkin.