by Michael Montero – On Thursday fighters representing four different countries met in Los Angeles for the final stop of their media tour announcing one of the most anticipated cards of the year. On October 17th inside the famed Madison Square Garden in New York city, middleweight titlists Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and David Lemieux faceoff in a can’t miss action fight. The co-feature is a flyweight contest between Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez and Brian “Hawaiian Punch” Viloria, another can’t miss action affair. This one-two duo headlines an HBO PPV broadcast priced at $49.95, relatively cheap considering the cost of certain other PPV cards this year that seemed to be more about the “money” than the fans.

This reporter has been covering Gennady Golovkin since he planted roots in Los Angeles – the true mecca of boxing in America these days – about a year ago. With each press conference there is a larger media presence, more buzz in the room and increasing hype from the fan community. This afternoon was the biggest and baddest yet.

As amped up as the fans and media were, one could reasonably conclude that there might be added pressure on the parties involved to “sell the fight”, but that was simply not the case. There was no trash talk as each member of the fighter camps, promoters, network executives and the boxers themselves walked up to the microphone to speak. These are four men who respect their opponents and let their fists do the talking. K2 Promotions’ Tom Loeffler and Golden Boy Promotions’ Eric Gomez talked about how the deal for the fight was reached in only 3 days, and how their fighters not only say they want to face the best, but back up those words. Bernard Hopkins spoke very highly of both men for carrying on his middleweight legacy and taking on a real challenge. “Get your popcorn ready before the opening bell”, said Hopkins to the media with a smile and a wink.

Gonzalez, standing at 5’3” with a 64” reach, is considered among the best pound for pound fighters in the world and figures to be a considerable favorite over Viloria, who is six years older at 34, and slightly taller at 5’4” with a 66” reach. Golovkin, standing 5’9” with a 70” reach is also the heavy favorite against Lemieux, who also measures 5’9” and 70” respectively. Although Gonzalez (a native of Nicaragua) and Golovkin (Kazakhstan) are favorites, these bouts are still very intriguing because they are both clearly taking on the most dangerous opponents of their careers.

In 2015 boxing fans have already been asked to pay $100 for the way past due spoiled milk that was Mayweather-Pacquiao, now there are three competing PPV cards this fall. Some fans have questioned whether Golovkin-Lemieux is PPV worthy, but when you consider the all the intangibles it makes plenty of sense. First of all, it’s late in the year and HBO Boxing’s budget is tapped. Secondly, it was going to make a significant payday for Team Lemieux to put their IBF mandatory obligation on hold and take on GGG. The Montreal KO artist is rumored to be making over $2M for this event, a payday that dwarfs the purses of his entire career.

The promoters are doing it right by putting on a great co-feature, pricing the PPV right and making tickets at the venue itself very reasonable, with half of the seats in The Garden at $50 or less. The fans have responded, gobbling up over 15,000 tickets a month ahead of the fight. All along the media tour one thing was evident, there just seems to be “something in the air” around this event. The fans are buzzing and the action in the ring should be buzzing October 17th in front of a sold out crowd at MSG.

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