By Jake Donovan

Saturday’s HBO Pay-Per-View headliner versus David Lemieux will mark the fourth time in his career that Gennady Golovkin fights on Madison Square Garden property. His first two fights at the historic New York City building have come in the Theatre, with his upcoming middleweight unification bout marking his second time playing the main room.

A sold-out crowd of more than 20,000 fans will be on hand to witness a show topped by a Kazakhstani living in Los Angeles against a boxer from Montreal fighting in the United States for just the second time in his career. None of it adds up on paper, but makes sense when you go deeper into the relationship Golovkin has enjoyed with the MSG family.

“Madison Square Garden is my second home. I've had many fights here,” Golovkin (33-0, 30KOs) mentioned during Wednesday’s press conference at The Theatre. “We have four belts on the line in a unification bout in a PPV fight. I'm excited, this is a very big day.”

It’s the first middleweight unification bout to play the main room in more than 14 years. Bernard Hopkins earned recognition as the true World middleweight champion in a 12-round destruction of then-unbeaten Felix Trinidad in their Sept. ’01 tournament finals.

Several other notable bouts have taken place on MSG ground in that time, including Miguel Cotto’s one-sided 10th round stoppage of Sergio Martinez to win the World middleweight crown last June.

“I know the history here, and respect the history. This is new history,” believes Golovkin, who has scored 20 straight knockouts as he attempts the 15th defense of at least one middleweight belt.

Both fighters are entering their first true unification bout. Golovkin holds the WBA and IBO titles (as well as the WBC interim belt), but both of which were won in vacant capacity. Lemieux (34-2, 31KOs) has just one title fight to his name – a 12-round win over Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam in June to earn the belt he puts on the line this weekend. 

While Golovkin is viewed as a heavy betting favorite, he recognizes the unique nature surrounding this bout also as perhaps the first true threat of his already spectacular career.

“He's a champion. This is a unification bout. He's a strong guy, he's a dangerous fighter,” Golovkin notes, refusing to look past Saturday.

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com.
Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
Facebook Page: JakeBScene