By Jim Dower: Trainer Abel Sanchez doesn’t think that IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs) is as tough or as good a puncher as a lot of boxing fans make him out to be. Sanchez thinks that KO artist Curtis Stevens is a better puncher than Lemieuix, and he thinks that it won’t be a problem for IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) to defeat the 26-year-old Lemieux in their fight on October 17th on HBO pay-per-view at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Golovkin defeated Stevens by an 8th round knockout last year in 2014 in a fight that was pretty much a one-sided fight from start to finish. Stevens landed some good shots early on and forced Golovkin to box with him rather than slug in the early going, but Golovkin slowly broke him down until forcing a stoppage.