By Luke Furman
The career of David Lemieux, the IBF's middleweight champion, will go to another level when he faces WBA/IBO champion Gennady Golovkin in a unification on October 17th at New York's Madison Square Garden. The fight will be carried by HBO Pay-Per-View.
Camille Estephan, President of Eye of the Tiger Management (EOTTM), who guide the career of Lemieux, sees the fight with Golovkin as the perfect opportunity to break away from the rest of the pack in Canada. Bigger stars like Adonis Stevenson, Jean Pascal and Lucian Bute have been featured on HBO and Showtime, but none of the three have headlined a major pay-per-view event in America.
"We are very happy. David is in the heart of Madison Square Garden, New York. This is a historic fight, HBO pay per view ... he is the first Quebecer to [fight at MSG] since (Arturo) Gatti in 2005. We saw a lot of guys, (Jean) Pascal (Lucian) Bute, (Adonis) Stevenson, who have been on HBO, but not at this level. It's completely different. Golovkin is a challenge, but that's what David loves. He wants real challenges," Estephan told TVA.
"There are two sides of the coin, the boxing side and the money side. For the boxing side, we were ready. The money side, we weren't sure it would work, but we got everything we wanted for David so we are very happy with the agreement."
"He's a guy (Golovkin) who is in the top 5 worldwide, pound for pound, and we will be prepared accordingly I assure you. It will bring David to the next level in his career and we will go there to win the fight. You have to give them credit (Lemieux and Golovkin). They are two guys that hit so hard, they want to fight and give everything to put on a show for the fans.
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.