Golovkin: Lemieux can go 3 or 4 rounds with me on power alone

By Boxing News - 10/07/2015 - Comments

1-golovkin (8)By Allan Fox: It looks like IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs) had better plan on boxing IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) in their fight on October 17th, because Golovkin is saying that Lemieux won’t be able to go more than 3 to 4 rounds with him if he only brings his power game with him in their HBO pay-per-view fight at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Golovkin thinks that for Lemieux to go the entire 12 round distance with him in this fight, he’s going to need to plan on boxing him for 12 rounds instead of slugging it out.

The question is can Lemieux box well enough to go the distance with Golovkin? Perhaps the better question is will Lemieux even let himself try and box Golovkin because right now Lemieux seems so self-assured that he might feel he can do anything.

Confidence is good, but when it gets to the part where you come off like a narcissist, then you are your worst enemy. Perhaps this is why Lemieux lost to Joachim Alcine and Marco Antonio Rubio in the past. Lemieux was supremely confident going into both of those fights, and yet he lost to both guys. Lemieux needs to know his limitations as a fighter and not try and do things that his body and skill level won’t let him do.

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“This is going to be like a street fight. He has a good style – almost like amateur style,” Golovkin said. “I will beat any style – amateur style or brawl style. He will be a good test for me.”

It looks like Golovkin doesn’t expect Lemieux to try and boxing him on October 17th. That could be bad for Lemieux unless he comes to his senses early on and realizes that he’s not good enough to slug with Golovkin.

Lemieux might get lucky if he’s knocked down once or twice in the early part of the fight and is able to survive. I think something like that would snap him back into reality and cause him to adapt and switch to a plan-B.

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If Lemieux’s ego is so out of control that he still feel that he can beat Golovkin by slugging with him, then I can see this fight ending quickly like Golovkin says within three to four rounds.

“It is very interesting for me because right now he is a star,” Golovkin said about Lemieux. “With power alone, he could go maybe three or four rounds with me. If he boxes he could go twelve rounds. Every second is very important – every round – every step.”

I think Golovkin is right. If Lemieux just goes out there and tries to be a bull like Curtis Stevens tried against Golovkin, then this fight will end quickly with Golovkin nailing Lemieux with a big left hook to plant him face first on the canvas for a long snooze. But if Lemieux can try and box, he might just be able to survive for a while.

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Lemieux moves around the ring like he has two left feet, so I can’t see him being able to evade Golovkin for 11 rounds like Martin Murray did last February. Lemieux is very slow on his feet, and he’s not going to be able to run around the ring without getting very, very tired and then getting knocked out in a hurry.



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