Gennady Golovkin
Golden Boy Promotions boss Oscar De La Hoya claims David Lemieux can knockout Gennady Golovkin. Reuters/Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

International Boxing Federation middleweight champion David Lemieux appears all set in his HBO PPV match against International Boxing Organisation and World Boxing Association middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin on Oct. 17 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

However, even at his best shape, Lemieux could have some troubles in dealing against the undefeated Kazakh champ on the fight night.

Lemieux, who holds a record of 34 wins and two losses, along with 31 knockouts, will be fighting Golovkin at a catch-weight of 160 pounds. However, the Canadian boxer looked more than the 160 pounds when he appeared for a media workout in Montreal on Thursday, suggesting that Lemieux could walk into the match at no less than 175 pounds.

According to Dan Ambrose of Boxing News 24, Lemieux would probably need to drain 15 pounds of water weight to get to the 160-pound weight limit. But dropping a chunk of body mass to make weight for their fight and then put it back on is not the 26-year-old Canadian’s specialty. Ambrose also argued that Lemieux runs out of gas past the 6th round in his middleweight contests, which suggests he is fighting in the wrong weight category.

“It’s going to be really tough for Lemieux to beat a fighter as talented as Golovkin even if he’s in the best of shape,” Ambrose wrote. “Lemieux really should be fighting at super middleweight, because he’s too big for middleweight.”

However, Golden Boy Promotion head honcho Oscar De La Hoya believes his fighter has what it takes to knockout Golovkin in their unification title bout next month. Hoya claims that Lemieux “can knockout” Golovkin and will be hailed in Canada as a new boxing superstar.

Meanwhile, Golovkin, who has an impressive record of 33 wins and 30 knockouts, will have his first ever pay-per-view boxing match. “Triple G” said he looks forward to putting on another amazing show when he fights Lemieux, as he tries to snatch the biggest fights against the top names in the middleweight division.

“Pay-Per-View to me means reaching the highest level in the sport,” Golovkin told Boxing Scene. “This has given me the opportunity for my first title unification fight.”

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