By Dan Ambrose: Boxer/promoter Bernard Hopkins believes that his fighter IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux will be shocking the world on Saturday night by beating IBO/WBA middleweight champ Gennady “Triple G” Golovkin on HBO PPV.
Hopkins says that Lemieux will need to be able to take some big shots in order to land his own, but he seems to believe that he’s capable of doing just that to beat Golovkin and take his two belts from him.
After Lemieux beats Golovkin, Hopkins expects there to be excuses that come from Golovkin’s camp for why he lost the fight. Hopkins fully expects the excuses to come flying afterwards.
What’s interesting is that Hopkins believes that he would disarm Golovkin if he fought him. Hopkins thinks he would be able to do this to the point where Golovkin wouldn’t even be able to throw punches. Just how Hopkins would do this is unclear. We know that Hopkins liked to clinch a lot for much of his career, but I don’t think that would work in beating a guy like Golovkin.
You’re not going to beat a fighter like Golovkin with the simple punch and grab technique that we’ve seen from Hopkins in the past. Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez would be ready for the punch and grab. We saw how Golovkin prevented Martin Murray from using the punch and grab by stepping back and nailing him each time he would attempt to lunge forward to hold.
Hopkins isn’t invincible. We saw him get beaten by Joe Calzaghe and Jermain Taylor in the past, as well as Roy Jones Jr. If those fighters could beat Hopkins, then it’s safe to say that Golovkin would do it too.
“I would make him [Golovkin] uncomfortable,” Hopkins said to Fighthub in how he would beat Golovkin. “How do you make a guy like that uncomfortable? Lemieux has to be himself but better than himself. Triple G must be put in a situation that he’s never had to deal with before. This is a process of some punches that will be absorbed by Lemieux. Can Lemieux take what he gives out? Lemieux is going to upset the world of boxing. There’s going to be some excuse. I also know that Triple G is dangerous. He’s a guy that you cannot underestimate or overlook and get too cocky, even though you might have your way early. I would disarm him [Golovkin], and then I would make him fight the fight that I wanted. Guys like that are dangerous. Once I disarm you mentally, you wouldn’t even use those hands you’ve got,” Hopkins said.
I doubt that Lemieux will shock the boxing world other than by losing the fight faster than a lot of fans are expecting him to lose.
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