Gennady "GGG" Golovkin, the WBA and IBO middleweight champion and premier knockout artist in boxing, is slated to face perhaps the toughest challenge of his career in October. He will defend his titles vs. IBF champion David Lemieux, whose knockout percentage is right on par with Golovkin's.
The bout is highly anticipated-it's broken pre-sale records at Madison Square Garden-and boxing legend Bernard Hopkins likened it to the matchup between Hall of Famers Marvin Hagler and Tommy Hearns. But despite Lemieux's 31 knockouts, which is one more than Golovkin has, GGG's trainer Abel Sanchez thinks Lemieux's power is overrated.
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"In my opinion Curtis [Stevens] is a harder puncher," Sanchez told Boxing Scene. "Curtis was a harder puncher because he's a snappy puncher. David is more of a George Foreman, thudding kind of puncher. You have to be standing in front of him, with your hands down, for David to hurt you."
Lemieux won his title by unanimous decision, but in defeating Hassan N'Dam he knocked him down six times. Lemieux's got an 86 percent knockout rate, five points less than Golovkin's, and he's won seven of his last nine fights by KO or TKO.
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Golovkin has a 20-fight knockout streak going, and three of his last four fights haven't made it past Round 6. Still, even though Sanchez believes Stevens was the more dangerous puncher, he doesn't think Lemieux will be some kind of cake walk for Golovkin.
"Everybody that gets hit with a good shot from a good fighter at this level is going to get hurt. Anybody can get hurt, it doesn't matter who you are."
Stevens did have moments of success vs. Golovkin before he was stopped in the eighth round, but that fight was famous for Stevens' face when he first tasted Golovkin's power.
For the first time in his career, Golovkin might be fighting someone who can give him a taste of his own medicine.
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