By Tim Fletcher: IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs) says he’s had one of his best camps ever in getting ready for his fight this Saturday night against IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Lemieux has worked hard on not just his conditioning but in strategy sessions with his trainer Mark Ramsey. Lemieux has what he feels is a great strategy to beat the 33-year-old Golovkin, and he’s got the kind of punching power that could give the Kazakhstan fighter nightmares.
There’s a lot riding on this fight for Lemieux. If he wins the fight then he’ll almost surely be fighting the winner of the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Miguel Cotto fight for a huge career high payday.
If Lemieux loses the fight to Golovkin, then he’ll needs to start over and try and build his way back to another title shot. Golovkin would have the IBF and WBA titles at that point, which means that Lemieux would have to target the WBO champion Andy Lee if he wanted to try and win another world title.
If Golovkin beats Lemieux, then he’ll either be given the WBC title outside of the ring when/if the Cotto-Canelo winner decides not to fight him, or he’ll be fighting the winner of that fight if they’re willing to face him.
Right now, I’d say it’s 50-50 that the winner of the Cotto vs. Canelo fight faces Golovkin. I don’t have much faith that either of these guys will want to tangle with Golovkin.
“I’m ready. It’s now or never. He’s at his best. I’m getting to my best,” Lemieux said. We took a big step, and we’re ready for it. Everybody understands the gravity of this fight. I think people are going to be surprised with what I bring to the table.”
To be sure, Lemieux has looked really good in his recent fights against Hassan N’Dam and Gabriel Rosado. Lemieux sliced through them pretty easily, and he showed a lot of maturity in the process.
The Lemieux that lost to Marco Antonio Rubio and Joachim Alcine four years ago no longer exists. He’s gotten a lot better, and he’s no longer making the same mistakes now that he did back then. Lemieux will make sure that he paces himself in this fight, because he realizes that he can’t come out too fast because Golovkin will likely be still around in the second half of the fight due to his experience and excellent defensive skills.
“I’m a big underdog, which is perfect by me. It’s not a problem. I know who I am. I have a lot of confidence in myself.”
Lemieux wants to prove the boxing fans, odds-makers, and the media wrong by going out there and beating Golovkin on Saturday in their fight on HBO pay-per-view. With a lot of people counting him out, Lemieux doesn’t have the pressure on him like Golovkin has.
There are no expectations because everyone sees Lemieux as a guy that’s not in Golovkin’s class. But that’s where Lemieux can surprise everyone if he comes out there with a good game plan to beat the 33-year-old fighter. We really don’t know how good Golovkin is because as a pro, he’s not faced anyone good as of yet.
Golovkin’s best wins have come against Curtis Stevens, Daniel Geale, Matthew Macklin, Willie Monroe Jr, and Martin Murray. Those are B-level fighters, and not in the same class as guys like Miguel Cotto and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, and likely not in the same class as Lemieux.
“It’s not about power. It’s about character, toughness and determination,” Lemieux said. “We’re both hard punchers; everyone knows that. Let’s see beyond that.”
Lemieux expects to be the guy with the superior heart in this fight, and he feels that he’s the hungrier guy. Golovkin seems to want the win really bad, but it remains to be seen whether he wants a win as badly as Lemieux. The winner of this fight is going to need to be able to take some really big shots if they want to get the win. We don’t know how good Golovkin’s chin is yet. We know that Lemieux was stopped by Marcos Antonio Rubio in the past, but that was more because of exhaustion rather than he being hurt by anything Rubio was throwing at him.
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