By Edward Chaykovsky
Golden Boy Promotions partner Bernard Hopkins, who stands as the only man to unify the WBC/WBA/WBO/IBF world titles at 160-pounds, predicts current IBF middleweight champ David Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs) is going to do some serious damage when he meets WBA, IBO and WBC "interim" champion Gennady "GGG" Golovkin, (33-0, 30KOs) in their own unification on HBO Pay-Per-View.
The bout takes place on October 17 at "The Mecca of Boxing" Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Back in 2001, at the same venue, Hopkins unified the WBC/WBA/IBF middleweight belts with a knockout of previously undefeated Felix Trinidad. Hopkins was a big underdog coming in that fight, and so is Lemieux on Saturday night.
Hopkins, who promotes Lemieux, was impressed when he saw his fighter trainer in Montreal last week. He feels Lemieux looked even better when he saw him train on Tuesday.
"David is ready to become the unified middleweight world champion. I saw him in Montreal and he looked so strong. Today he looks ready to take Golovkin's head off," Hopkins said.
Golden Boy VP Eric Gomez agreed with Hopkins' opinion. He saw Lemieux in camp several weeks ago and says the Canadian puncher looks very fast and very strong for the upcoming fight.
"I saw David three weeks ago and today he looks so fast and strong. Now not only does he have the power that we all know David Lemieux for, but he also has speed and it's going to be a dangerous night for Golovkin," Gomez said.
