Gennady Golovkin-David Lemieux: Post Report Card

by Cliff Rold

He’s halfway there.

If Gennady Golovkin intends to make his ultimate mark as one of the great Middleweights, and at 33 there isn’t much time to do otherwise, unification of the class is a must. His field isn’t particularly deep or strong. Neither was the field faced by Bernard Hopkins. Hopkins overcame the objection by eliminating all pretenders.

Golovkin easily, and brutally, lifted the IBF belt from David Lemieux. He already has the WBA strap. If the winner of Miguel Cotto-Canelo Alvarez next month elects to avoid him, he may get the WBC belt without landing another punch.

He already has an interim version of that one.

He’s halfway there.

Let’s go the report card.

Grades

Pre-Fight: Speed – Golovkin B; Lemieux A-/Post: B; B+

Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Golovkin A; Lemieux B+/Post: A; B

Give Lemieux credit for trying. Take some away fro not trying early enough. Lemieux’s best chance to win was to catch Golovkin early, before he was fully warmed up. He needed chaos.

He started with nervous control.

The thinking behind Lemieux’s tentative start makes some sense. He was trying to be responsible. The jab of Golovkin made that a bad idea. There was a Liston-like efficiency to Golovkin’s lead left, drilling through the guard of Lemieux. It was, at times, as if the Canadian didn’t know it was okay to slip the shot.

Worse for Lemieux was that, even when he got a big power shot in, Golovkin came right back at him and hit him harder. Golovkin has done that against everyone, regardless of their power. That has to be disheartening. When the fighter with a puncher’s chance find out he doesn’t have one, it’s all about how long they can last.

Lemieux lasted until the eighth. He probably should have had a few extra minutes tacked on after the knockdown in round four. Golovkin flirted with a disqualification, striking Lemieux on the deck. There should have at least been a warning. Perhaps the referee was as in awe of Golovkin as many others seem to be these days.

Lemieux goes back to the drawing board and can make good fights with others at 160. Golovkin needs two fights to finish his title run. His best chance at winning the WBC belt in the ring, and winning history’s crown (traceable to Hopkins) is probably a Canelo win next month.

Beyond that, the IBF beltholder will be Andy Lee or Billy Joe Saunders. Saunders has stated that he might not be up for that. Lee might take a crack at it for the right price. If the winner of Danny Jacobs-Peter Quillin in December wants to matter, they can show it by pushing their position as a rightful WBA mandatory, holding the regular to Golovkin “Super” version of that organization’s crown.

So Golovkin is halfway there. He isn’t done yet. Whether he can complete his run at middleweight in 2016 will have more to do with who is willing to fight him than anything else.

Also like former heavyweight king Sonny Liston, Golovkin has reached a point where being the lineal king is almost a formality. Floyd Patterson was just holding a title that Liston was going to have with a chance. Right now, anyone else with a title at middleweight looks like Patterson in this scenario.

Cliff’s Notes…

Donald Trump got booed so loud on Saturday night at the Garden that one might think he was here to fight Bruno Sammartino…Roberto Duran got Bruno love from the house…what is with fighter’s coming to the ring to ballads?  That is just weird…Does HBO seem to really not want Roman Gonzalez to be the tippy top pound-for-pound king? They dig him but this is where everyone should realize: pound-for-pound is not a real thing. It’s a fun parlor debate for fans. It’s a marketing weapon for networks. Who do you think HBO wants to market as the top dog in all boxing? The receipts matter…As always, a great night in the church of boxing.