By Allan Fox: IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) took boxing fans by surprise on Thursday when he confessed that he’s afraid of the 26-year-old IBF 160lb champion David Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs) ahead of their important pay-per-view fight on HBO on October 17th from Madison Square Garden in New York.

Golovkin seemed tongue tiled and flustered when speaking to the media during his 3rd and final day of his media tour in Los Angeles, California. This is pretty much the same thing we saw from the 33-year-old Golovkin in his other two media conferences with Lemieux in Montreal and New York.

Golovkin looked afraid and said that he felt fear of Lemieux. Golovkin repeated that he scared of the ordeal he’ll be facing when he gets inside the ring with the hard hitting Lemieux two months from now on 10/17 in what will clearly be the biggest fight of the Kazakhstan fighter’s life.

“I know my job is very short and this is a very big job,” he told behindthegloves.com. “It’s very exciting, amazing for me… and scary! I’m a little scared. I am a regular guy, I’m not a crazy guy – maybe one per cent – because I understand my situation. I understand this is a sport, not a game. This is scary. I am scared. Why not?”

While Golovkin was busy saying how afraid he was about the fight, Lemieux was the picture of confidence in looking relaxed, smiling and joking with the media. Despite the fact that English being a second language for Lemieux, he spoke fluent English with an accent, and said that he definitely feels that he’s going to beat Golovkin and take his IBO and WBA middleweight titles from him to move forward to face the winner of the November 21st fight between WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

If Golovkin is this nervous about fighting the 26-year-old Lemieux, who has been beaten twice during his career to Joachim Alcine and Marco Antonio Rubio, you have to wonder how Golovkin would deal with facing the likes of Cotto, Canelo or Andre Ward. If he’s going to pieces in dealing with a fight against Lemieux, then how would he ever hope to be able to make his way through a fight against one of the arguably more dangerous/difficult tests against Ward, Cotto and Canelo?

“He’s my toughest yet,” Golovkin said. “It’s very interesting. This is a big step for me. It’s not just his power, it’s his mentality. He’s serious and he’s not scared. He is a very hungry guy. He’s a champion, the IBF champion, so it’s a big thing.”

It is a very different thing for Golovkin in facing Lemieux, because the Canadian fighter is absolutely unafraid of fighting Golovkin, and he’s totally confident about beating him. At the same time, Golovkin looks awed by the experience and afraid for the first time in his career about what he’s about to undertake. What this perhaps shows you is that Golovkin has had so many mismatches and soft opponents during his career that it’s caused him to be afraid now that he’s finally facing his first big test.

Golovkin has been the 800lb gorilla for the last decade in facing largely weak to mediocre opposition. When he finally is facing a guy with punching power that is equal if not better than his own in the much younger 26-year-old Lemieux, Golovkin is suddenly afraid for the first time in his career.

What also may be throwing Golovkin off in this fight is Lemieux’s conference. He’s not just unafraid of Golovkin, but he’s also dead certain that he’s going to defeat him and take his two titles. That’s something that Golovkin is totally unaccustomed to because his usual opposition appear afraid during the press conferences, and it’s Golovkin is the one who is the picture of confidence.