By Luke Furman
IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux is less than a month away from his unification battle with WBA/IBO champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin. The bout is scheduled for October 17th at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The match headlines an HBO Pay-Per-View event.
Lemieux captured his world title on June 20th with a twelve round decision over France's Hasson N'Dam.
Now that's he's a champion, the popular Canadian says there are increased responsibilities that would accompany this new status.
He wants to be a champion who is loved by the people and says eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao is a source of inspiration for the task. Pacquiao is an icon back in the Philippines and loved for his fire inside the ring and his generosity outside the ring.
Lemieux is starting his own foundation to help the less fortunate.
"Being a champion is not just a title," said Lemieux to the Montreal Journal. "You have to lead by example and be a leader in society. [Pacquiao] has very good values and I respect a lot what he does as an athlete and as a person. Cases like him, it should it become an epidemic in order to make a real difference on the planet."
"I have some projects in mind in this sense, but before they are real, my foundation must be strong. For now, it is under construction and it is not yet formed the way I want. I would particularly be involved in underdeveloped countries. There are lots of people dying of starvation and we turn our backs on them. This is inhuman."
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.
