By Dan Ambrose: IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) and IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs) were both on target for their 30-day weigh-in. Lemieux weighed in at 175.4lbs, while Golovkin came in 10 pounds lighter at 165 pounds. Golovkin and Lemieux will be facing each other on October 17th on HBO pay-per-view at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Golovkin usually comes into his fights at 170lbs after rehydrating. His 30-day weight is likely not reflective of the actual weight that he’ll be coming into the fight at on October 17th, but it’s obviously going to be close to that.
Lemieux is a heavier middleweight, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he walks into the ring weighing 175 pounds for this fight. Lemieux will need to cut 15 pounds of water weight to make weight on October 16th. One of the reasons why Lemieux fades in the second half of his fights could be the result of all the weight that he needs to cut for him to make the 160lb limit.
#VivaMexico Feliz dia de la Independencia a toda mi gente mexicana, gracias por el apoyo! #TeamLemieux pic.twitter.com/VJrEmSqvmo
— David Lemieux (@lemieuxboxing) September 16, 2015
While some fighters can lose 15 to 25 pounds and not feel the negative effects of putting that weight back on before the fight, many other fighters end up being sluggish after six rounds when they lose that kind of weight. I think Lemieux is one of those fighters. He’s more like a six round fighter than a 12 round guy.
Lemieux, 5’9”, should probably be fighting at super middleweight rather than at middleweight, but he lacks the height and the arm length for him to compete against the taller super middleweights.
If Lemieux isn’t able to get a knockout in the first six rounds of the contest against Golovkin, then his chances of winning will steadily go downhill with every round after the 6th. Golovkin is quite capable of fighting hard for a full 12 round fight without gassing out, which means that Lemieux is going to need to work hard to try and get him out of there as fast as he can in this fight.
If Lemieux doesn’t get a knockout by the 6th, he’ll likely wind up getting knocked out in the 7th round like he was against Marco Antonio Rubio in 2011. Lemieux has the punching power to score a knockout in this fight, and he’s got an opponent who will be standing directly in front of him all night.
Lemieux will need to have really good accuracy on his shots for him to take advantage of Golovkin being in front of him. A lot of Golovkin’s opponents miss with their punches even when he’s a stationary target.
Lemieux is kind of limited when it comes to his arsenal of punches. He’s got an excellent left hook that he uses to KO most of his opponents, but he does very little damage with his right hand shots. Golovkin will be focusing mostly on shutting down Lemieux’s left hook all night long to make sure that he doesn’t it.
You can bet that Golovkin will be pushing a fast pace to try and wear Lemieux down. The faster the pace the quicker Lemieux will gas out in this fight.
Golovkin’s 165 pound weight limit takes away every argument that Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his fans had for him not facing Golovkin. Marcos Maidana weighed in at 165 pounds when he stepped into the ring to face Mayweather in their first fight in 2014. If Maidana wasn’t too big to fight Mayweather at 165, then Mayweather shouldn’t have any problems facing Golovkin. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez weighs in at 175 for his fights, and Mayweather fought him.
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