By Jake Donovan

David Lemieux is well aware of what he’s up against heading into his middleweight title unification bout versus Gennady Golovkin. The two collide October 17 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, with HBO Pay-Per-View to air live.

The card comes at a premium ($49.95 SRP, plus $10 for HD viewing), despite Lemieux entering as a massive underdog. The knockout artist from Montreal can see the writing on the wall, but firmly believe his career-long experiences have sufficiently prepared him for the biggest fight to date.

“I would say my last two fights against (Gabriel) Rosado and (Hassan) N'Dam were against the best opponents that I've faced so far,” Lemieux (34-2, 31KOs) notes. “With Rosado I broke his eye socket and fractured his cheekbone yet he was so determined to fight and kept coming with his best shots.

“Regarding the N'Dam fight well I dropped him something like five times—they counted four falls as knockdowns and he would get up and keep fighting. He would fall hard and get right back up come forward with even more desperate energy I was thinking to myself that I must be fighting a zombie even shooting this guy won't stop him. Simply put it was a testament to a very conditioned athlete with tremendous drive a lot of respect to him. So in both cases I felt that they could bring different skill sets to the fight. They are certainly good fighters that were I believe excellent preparation for the biggest fight of my career so far that is coming up on October 17th.”

Golovkin (33-0, 30KOs) is a different beast altogether. Widely regarded as the best middleweight on the planet, the flame-throwing Kazakhstani comes in having made 14 successful defenses of at least one title while having scored 20 consecutive knockouts.

Still, there are those who question whether or not he is for real, as he’s yet to face the elite middleweights of today. It’s hardly through any fault of his own, as it’s tough to make fights when prospective clients don’t return your phone calls.

That leads to his upcoming showdown with Lemieux, who is impressed with – though not in awe of –the unbeaten middleweight.  

“As far as Golovkin, he's had some detractors saying that the level of opposition has not been there,” Lemieux notes. “Well I believe, although can't know for sure he has fought the best available guys. There is no doubt in my mind that Golovkin is one of the best middleweights in the world and his numbers speak for themselves.

“So is the hype warranted? Well… he has fought on HBO 8 or 9 times (Writer’s note: eight to date, with the Oct. 17 clash marking his first PPV headliner) which is obviously tremendous exposure hence it adds to the hype that coupled with the KO's.  He is perceived as one the most feared boxers in the world yet after we fight there will be a new most feared man. I have now fought on HBO once and this is the second fight, on HBO Pay-Per-View, but after this fight I believe the boxing community and the whole world will be shocked saying Lemieux is the most feared.”

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