If Golovkin keeps winning, the Kazakh Kid may become the new face of boxing, and it?s a face that neither sneers nor registers scorn.?
Saturday night at New York?s Madison Square Garden, in a fight televised live on HBO pay-per-view, WBA, IBO, and interim WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (34-0-31 KOs), from Los Angeles by way of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, TKO?d IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux (34-3, 32 KOs), from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, at 1:30 of round eight after a methodical, one-sided beatdown.
Fighting out of the red corner in white trunks with blue and red trim, Golovkin did to his opponent what he did to the last 20 men he fought, even though Lemieux was the most accomplished fighter he has faced. He ate a few punches in the process, whereas Lemieux was force-fed a bloody smorgasbord.
Lemieux, fighting out of the blue corner in purple trunks, had neither a game plan nor the skills to compete with the juggernaut Triple G. The Canadian had his moments, particularly in the sixth and seventh rounds, but it was an uphill battle that Lemieux was destined to lose and lose big.
The 20,548 who crammed into the Garden got what they paid for. They wanted to see one man dismantle another and Golovkin was more than happy to oblige. He stalked and stunned Lemieux on numerous occasions, using the jab, hook, straight right and uppercut in his well stocked arsenal.
Lemieux has plenty of grit. He was unhappy with the stoppage. He wanted to go out on his shield. But the result was, for all intents and purposes, a foregone conclusion, due less, however, to Lemieux?s deficiencies than to Golovkin?s proficiencies.
?I told you this was a very important fight,? said Golovkin after the bout. ?Dave is a very good fighter. A strong fighter. I can box him, too. I?m a boxer, too. My goal is all the belts in the middleweight division.?
As boxing proceeds to fill the void Floyd?s retirement has created, we?re going to see several fighters in the upcoming months anointed as the next big thing. There?s a ton of talent out there, master boxers as well as master sluggers, all of whom appear to have been born for the express purpose of filling big shoes.
If Golovkin keeps winning, and there?s no reason to think otherwise, the Kazakh Kid may become the new face of boxing, and it?s a face that neither sneers nor registers scorn.
