Lemieux impressed with Golovkin’s power

By Boxing News - 05/05/2016 - Comments

Image: Lemieux impressed with Golovkin's powerBy Dan Ambrose: Former IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux (34-3, 31 KOs) believes IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) is a very hard puncher, but not the hardest puncher in the 160lb division. Lemieux disagrees with former world title challenger Curtis Stevens (27-5, 20 KOs), who said this week that he doesn’t think Golovkin is a hard puncher at all.

Stevens sparred with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez to help him get ready for his fight last November against Miguel Cotto, and he came away impressed with Canelo’s power more so than Golovkin. However, Stevenson was stopped by Golovkin in the 8th round in their fight in November 2013, so that tells you that Golovkin hits hard enough to make Stevens quit.

“Golovkin definitely has power,” said Lemieux to esnewsreporting. “Stevens wouldn’t be like that on the floor if Golovkin didn’t have power. Stevens talks a lot, but is definitely a strong fighter. I think I’m the strongest puncher. He’s [Golovkin] definitely a guy who is very precise, and very accurate and that’s what makes him so strong and so precise. It’s not really who throws the hardest haymakers. It’s the precision and the surprise,” said Lemieux.

Lemieux will be fighting junior middleweight Glen Tapia (23-2, 15 KOs) this Saturday night on the Amir Khan vs. Canelo card on HBO PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Lemieux is the favorite to win the fight against Tapia, who hasn’t fought since last year in May 2015. Tapia was knocked out by Michel Soro in his last fight.

“I sparred Canelo with sixteens’ on, and I fought GGG with tens’ on,” said Stevens to Fighthype.com. “GGG, he’s not that big of a puncher. Canelo is a hell of a puncher, you know? It would be a great fight for the fans [Golovkin vs. Canelo]. He’s [Golovkin] not that big of a puncher. he punches hard, but I don’t think he’s a one-punch knockout artist. He has heavy hands. There’s a difference between a one-punch knockout artist and someone who just boom and booms you until you quit,” said Stevens.

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Golovkin really wasn’t standing and trading with Stevens very much in their fight three years ago. Golovkin mostly boxed Stevens and played it safe by throwing accurate shots to the head and body. The fight was a tactical affair by Golovkin for the most part. He knocked Stevens down hard in the 2nd round of the fight with a big shot. The fight got out of hand in the 7th and Stevens finally had enough by the 8th. If the fight had gone on past that point, Stevens would have been battered into the canvas because he was starting to get worn down by Golovkin’s booming shots.

It would be nice if Canelo would fight Golovkin so that we could see the big power from Canelo that Stevens talks about. It doesn’t look like it’s going to happen though.
Stevens will be fighting unbeaten middleweight prospect Patrick Teixeira (26-0, 22 KOs) on the Canelo-Khan card. It’s a toss-up fight.

Lemieux says he still wants a rematch with Golovkin because he’d like to try and improve upon his performance from last October against him. Golovkin stopped Lemieux in the 8th round in a mostly one-sided contest on HBO PPV at Madison Square Gardenb in New York.

“We learned a lot from Golovkin,” Lemieux said to Fighthype. “He’s a good fighter. Step by step we’re going to get back there and maybe have a rematch.”