NEW YORK, NY - In the highly anticipated main event on Saturday night, WBA/IBO and WBC "Interim" World Champion Gennady "GGG" Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) added the IBF Middleweight Title to his collection with an exhilarating performance against former IBF Middleweight World Champion, David Lemieux (34-3, 31 KOs), culminating in an eighth round technical knockout victory on Saturday, October 17, at Madison Square Garden with a sold out crowed of 20, 548 fight fans.
Golovkin, showed his offensive and defensive prowess in the ring against the valiant Lemieux and dropped Lemieux in round five and ended the night with a battering display in the eighth round earning the stoppage at the 1:32 mark.
"It was too early to stop the fight," said Camille Estephan, Manager to David Lemieux. "That punch that Golovkin threw didn't even bring David to the mat. David fought valiantly. He showed a lot of heart and skills. But Golovkin's defense was great; I think that his defense is underestimated."
The referee disagreed with the position of Team Lemieux.
"I had to do something," said the referee Esteves Willies. "David is a very competitive fighter and as long as he was able to throw punches he was going to keep on trying but his chances of winning were decreasing as the fight went on.
"Against a guy [Golovkin] like that he was going to get really hurt and I'm here to protect the fighter's health and that's my top priority. I couldn't let him continue to receive punishment. I gave him every chance I could and I still hesitated too much. It was over."
