By Allan Fox: Promoter Bernard Hopkins believes that IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) is very vulnerable in his fight against the Golden Boy Promoted IBF 160lb champion David Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs) in their fight on October 17th at Madison Square Garden in New York.
What makes Golovkin vulnerable for this fight are a couple of things. Hopkins thinks that Golovkin’s unbeaten record and the praises he’s been getting from fans will make him vulnerable to getting beaten. He thinks that Golovkin has become drunk on all the praises he’s picked up from the boxing fans due to his many knockout wins he’s accumulated over the past seven years.
Golovkin has stopped everyone he’s faced since 2008 to now, but he’s also not faced any A-level contenders. The best fighters that Golovkin has faced have been marginal fighters like Willie Monroe Jr., Daniel Geale, Gabriel Rosado, and Martin Murray. Golovkin’s resume is very thin, but the fans have steadily praised him for beating the guys that have been lined up for him.
“What I see that makes him vulnerable is his [Golovkin] undefeated record, and the praises that he’s getting,” Hopkins told Fighthub. “You can become intoxicated with all the praises and he be getting drunk off of it. That’s what I’m hoping for Triple G. When he gets in a battle he’s not controlling, he’s not overwhelming you with success. Maybe he’s overwhelming you but he’s getting the worst that overwhelming like I’m taking over the conversation in this interview. I need Lemieux to take over the aggressive style of Triple G to neutralize it to come with his negative more than his positive,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins makes some good points about Golovkin. By this point in his career, he’s probably drunk on success and all the lapping praises from boxing fans and the media. They’ve steadily smothered Golovkin with compliments despite the fact that he’s not faced anyone at all during his career, and they’ve not insisted on him fighting good opposition before giving him their praise. One could only wonder what a prime Hopkins would have been able to do with Golovkin when he was holding down all the world titles at 160 a decade ago.
Golovkin was beaten in the Olympics by a Russian fighter Gaydarbek Gaydarbekov, and that is really the last time that Golovkin faced a good opponent. In the pros, Golovkin has faced guys that were made to order for him and had little in the way of talent.
Golovkin may have a padded record and he could be as vulnerable as Hopkins says, but Lemieux might not be the guy to expose him. Lemieux has a padded resume too, and he’s failed when he’s fought decent opposition. Lemieux says that he wasn’t trained properly for his defeats against Marco Antonio Rubio and Joachim Alcine. That might be true, but these are fighters that he should have never lost to. Lemieux lost his composure in both of those defeats, as well as in his recent win over Hassan N’Dam.
If Lemieux can fight with intelligence and box as well as slug, he should have a very good chance of beating Golovkin in this fight.
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