NEW YORK, N.Y. - No big drama this time for Gennady Golovkin. Just a lot of big punches as he dominated his middleweight title fight with Canadian David Lemieux.
Golovkin battered Lemieux around the ring Saturday night on the big stage at Madison Square Garden, landing punch after punch before the referee mercifully stepped in and stopped the fight in the eighth round. He remained unbeaten in 34 fights, and stopped his opponent for the 21st straight time.
Fighting before a sold-out crowd of 20,548 cheering his every move, Golovkin was methodical as he knocked down Lemieux in the fourth round, bloodied his nose and dominated almost every second of the way.
Lemieux, from Montreal, was on the ropes taking punch after punch when Steve Willis finally stepped in at 1:32 of the eighth round to call an end to the fight.
It was a coming out party of sorts for Golovkin, who was headling his first pay-per-view fight, and he was at his best as he wore down Lemieux with his relentless punching.
With the victory, Golovkin becomes the mandatory challenger to the winner of the November 21 bout between Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and Miguel Cotto, who battle for the WBC middleweight championship.
Golovkin's promoter, Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions, sees Canelo as being more willing to get in the ring with his fighter than Cotto.
"We always thought Canelo would be the more likely one to fight Gennady, but you have to give Miguel respect. Gennady will be at their fight and looking to fight the winner. Canelo has proven that he is wiling to get in the ring with anyone, and Cotto has been very selective in his negotiations for being middleweight champion," Loeffler said.
