By Steve Kim

On the night of October 17th at the Madison Square Garden, a middleweight unification bout takes place between Gennady Golovkin and David Lemieux. For Bernard Hopkins of Golden Boy Promotions - which promotes Lemieux - the Garden will always be a special place for him.

On the night of September 29th, 2001, he became the undisputed middleweight champion by stopping Felix Trinidad in twelve rounds. Like Trinidad did before that fateful night, Golovkin comes into this bout undefeated and with a fearsome reputation as an offensive force.

"But a much, much, much more of a destroyer," Hopkins said of Golovkin, in sizing up this match-up.

"Trinidad, is one of the greatest of my era. That left hook, I felt it - it's no joke. But 'Triple G' he has that determination and that body style and the way he positions his body, every punch from left to right can do some damage. Lemieux, our guy, has to really in some cases be more defensive-minded than offensive-minded than 'Triple G'."

For the most part, Lemiuex, who won the IBF title on June 20th by sending Hassan N'Dam to the canvas four times on his way to a unanimous decision, is a fighter who likes to crank up his left hook and fight off his front foot. Can he box defensively?

Hopkins admits - "Whether he can do that, that's going to be the billion dollar question based and predicated on how long the fight goes and what fighter it favors, the mid-rounds, the late rounds."

But Hopkins says expect fireworks, regardless.

"This fight has all the makings of a six-round or longer version of Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns. That only went three rounds, if this fight has half of that type of action, which to me, the styles say it all and the way their demeanors are, however it lasts or how long it lasts, enjoy it."

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.