In the highly anticipated main event on Saturday night, WBA/IBO and WBC “Interim” World Champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) added the IBF Middleweight Title to his collection with an exhilarating performance against former IBF Middleweight World Champion, David Lemieux (34-3, 31 KOs), culminating in an eighth round technical knockout victory on Saturday, October 17, at Madison Square Garden with a sold out crowed of 20, 548 fight fans.
Golovkin, showed his offensive and defensive prowess in the ring against the valiant Lemieux and dropped Lemieux in round five and ended the night with a battering display in the eighth round earning the stoppage at the 1:32 mark.
“I feel great, it was a great fight, I felt his power, but I was strong tonight and my punches hurt him. He is a great champion and I’m glad to beat him,” said Golovkin. “I want all the belts, now I have two. The winner of Cotto-Canelo for sure will be next. I’m not sure who will win that fight, but I want to fight the winner next. I’m staying at 160 until I have all the belts.”
“I feel like the referee called the fight too early. I am fine,” said Lemieux. “When he stopped it I wasn’t event on the mat, I can keep going. I have a lot of respect for Golovkin as a fighter. We prepared well for this fight but I feel like I waited too long to take some shots tonight and that really hurt me. I want another chance at Golovkin and I will take advantage of it.”
“Gennady showed tonight why he’s at the top of the sport,” said Tom Loeffler, Managing Director of K2 Promotions. “Unifying the middleweight titles as he did tonight in spectacular fashion at a sold-out Madison Square Garden showed his prowess in the ring and marketability outside.”
“It was too early to stop the fight,” said Camille Estephan, Manager to David Lemieux. “That punch that Golovkin threw didn’t even bring David to the mat. David fought valiantly. He showed a lot of heart and skills. But Golovkin’s defense was great; I think that his defense is underestimated.”
“Today was a great night of boxing,” said Bernard Hopkins, Future Hall Famer and Golden Boy Promotions Partner. “David did a great job and put on a great performance. But today Golovkin was better and proved that he deserves to be the unified middleweight champion.”
“I had to do something,” said the referee Esteves Willies. “David is a very competitive fighter and as long as he was able to throw punches he was going to keep on trying but his chances of winning were decreasing as the fight went on. Against a guy [Golovkin] like that he was going to get really hurt and I’m here to protect the fighter’s health and that’s my top priority. I couldn’t let him continue to receive punishment. I gave him every chance I could and I still hesitated too much. It was over.”
