Atlas Expects Golovkin To KO Lemieux In '4, 5 Rounds'

By Keith Idec

Teddy Atlas expects excitement during the Gennady Golovkin-David Lemieux bout Saturday night, but he doesn’t anticipate their middleweight championship unification fight lasting long.

The ESPN analyst/trainer predicted the heavily favored Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) will extend his knockout streak to 21 fights relatively quickly when the Kazakhstan native meets Montreal’s Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs) in a HBO Pay-Per-View main event at Madison Square Garden (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT; $59.99 in HD).

“I think Golovkin’s gonna knock out Lemieux within four, five rounds, to be honest,” Atlas told BoxingScene.com.

“That’s my feeling. Listen, you don’t need Teddy Atlas to tell you there’s probably gonna be some sparks and some fun before it ends, and excitement for the fans, and that it’s gonna be friendly to the television screen. I think it would be an upset if it’s not. Both guys are there, both guys are strong, both guys are physical, both guys have power. And both guys are very willing. And you don’t have to look for either guy.

“So yeah, I think it should be good for the fans. But I just think, at the end of the day, Golovkin will be the stronger guy, will have the stronger chin and will be the guy that takes the better approach to conveying that strength and all those things that both guys have. I think his approach will be better and I think, at the end of the day, he will be better. He’ll probably stop him in around four rounds.”

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.