NEW YORK ? Kathy Duva delivered her sarcastic message with a wry smile Thursday. The experienced promoter from Little Falls reminded those touting Gennady Golovkin as a great boxer based on his r?sum? might be getting ahead of themselves. The group Duva targeted included Abel Sanchez, who has compared the unbeaten WBA middleweight champion he trains to Ray Robinson, Bernard Hopkins and Marvin Hagler, and HBO Sports employees who?ve been billing Golovkin as a middleweight monster who has frightened fighters in three weights classes away from even considering boxing him. Duva doesn?t view Curtis Stevens, the hard-hitting contender her Totowa company promotes, as the huge underdog handicappers have suggested (11-1). She?d understand if the odds slightly favored Golovkin (27-0, 24 KOs), but she also knows the knockout artist from Kazakhstan hasn?t beaten a current or former middleweight champion and hasn?t been hit as hard as Brooklyn?s Stevens (25-3, 18 KOs) will hit him when they meet Saturday night in an HBO “Boxing After Dark” main event in The Theater at Madison Square Garden. “It?s just a wonderful situation,” Duva said during a news conference at The Refinery Hotel in Manhattan. “I?ve done this 30 years and I can?t remember a time when I felt this relaxed. There?s no pressure on us. The way people are talking about Curtis, if he makes it past the first round it?s going to be a victory.” The 28-year-old Stevens? detractors point to his one-sided unanimous decision defeat to Jessie Brinkley (35-7, 22 KOs) and his eighth-round technical knockout loss to journeyman Marcos Primera (20-28-2, 13 KOs) as reasons he can?t conquer Golovkin. Stevens swears he is a different fighter now that he has moved down from super middleweight to middleweight and properly dedicated himself to training. “Somebody?s getting knocked out,” Stevens said, “and it?s not going to be me.” The mild-mannered Golovkin laughed off Stevens? demonstrative display at the news conference Thursday and downplayed Sanchez saying Stevens won?t last more than a few rounds against him. “I hope it?s a good fight,” Golovkin said. “I have a very heavy punch, but he?s a strong guy. I?ve seen some of his fights. He has a good punch. He is a good fighter. I respect him.” Stevens, who considers Golovkin nothing more than “a hype job,” has knocked out three of the four opponents he has faced in the past 19 months in the first round. His one-punch, first-round destruction of Mexican veteran Saul Roman (37-10, 31 KOs) on Aug. 3 is a strong “Knockout of the Year” candidate, but Sanchez isn?t impressed. “Everybody is a challenge,” Sanchez said. “I?m not going to dismiss him. He?s one of these fighters that talked himself into a fight, a championship fight. And he?s going to get destroyed. Gennady is taking him very seriously, as I am. But he doesn?t belong in the ring with Triple-G.” – See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/sports/230159001_Idec_on_boxing__Duva_thinks_Golovkin_hype_a_bit_much_hype_a_bit_much.html#sthash.zStHO2K4.dpuf
