By Dan Ambrose: While Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya has been telling boxing fans that his fighter IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs) will be emerge victorious in his unification fight next month on October 17th against IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs), fans and fighters alike pretty much believe that Golovkin will be making easy work of the 26-year-old Lemieux.
That’s bad news for Golden Boy, De La Hoya, but it’s also a bad thing for Golovkin too. The fight is being televised on HBO pay-per-view, and if everyone believes that the Golovkin-Lemieux fight is going to be a mismatch, then boxing fans won’t bother to purchase it.
Obviously some fans will buy it, but not enough to make it a huge success. Golovkin needs a better opponent than Lemieux, who has already been beaten by Marco Antonio Rubio and Joachim Alcine in the past.
Martin Murray, a fighter that Golovkin stopped in the 11th round last February, thinks that Lemieux only has a puncher’s chance in this fight. He’s not ruling out an upset, but he thinks it’s going to take a lucky punch from Lemieux for him to get the win.
“I think it’s an easy fight for Golovkin. The only chance Lemieux’s got is if he catches him with a lucky shot,” Murray said to IFL TV. “He [Lemieux] punches well. He’s explosive when he lets his hands go, but he’s wide open. I think it’s going to be an easy night’s work for Golovkin. I think he takes him out in two or three rounds. I do think he’s [Lemieux] got the chance to hurt him because, like you said, he is explosive, and he does throw his shots well, but Golovkin is an exceptional fighter.”
For Lemieux to land a lucky shot, he’s going to need Golovkin to be right in front of him in his power alley. Lemieux isn’t really a one-punch type of fighter despite having excellent power. If Lemieux knocks Golovkin down, he’s likely going to get back up and put a hurting on him. I don’t see Lemieux being able to knock Golovkin down four times like he did with his last opponent Hassan N’Dam.
“He’s on you, like he was on me, and you think he’s right in front of you, but he’s not,” Murray said. “He’s got these little moves, these little side steps. He’s got the footwork. You think he’s there but he’s not. It’s not straight forward like him being on you. He’s there but he’s really not. The only way Lemieux beats him is if he catches him with a lucky shot, but they’re building up the fight to make it seem like it’s going to be a 50-50 fight, but I think it’s going to be an easy night’s work for Golovkin.”
Lemieux is going to need to get within punching range of Golovkin, and then time him to land one of his big hooks. It would help if Lemieux had more than just a left hook in his arsenal. It’s going to be difficult for him to beat Golovkin without a second weapon. Hopefully, Lemieux will be working on his right hand in training camp, because he’s going to need another knockout punch he can throw at Golovkin.
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