Hopkins: Golovkin-Lemieux match has ‘fight-of-the year written all over it’
Boxing legend Bernard Hopkins was the most excited speaker at the Gennady Golovkin-David Lemieux pre-fight media tour. And in the process of promoting this Oct. 17 pay-per-view bout, he may have taken a swipe at the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao mega match.
Golovkin and Lemieux were playing nice at the Conga Room in downtown Los Angeles for their press conference, and they were saying a lot of kind words about each other. But if this fight goes as expected, one of them is going to get knocked out.
The winner of this match will walk away with four world titles, and will be in line to fight the winner of the Miguel Cotto-Canelo Alvarez, which will take place on Nov. 21. Golovkin is the clear favorite, because he has been destroying his opponents, with 30 of his 33 fights ending with a knockout. The undefeated boxer has a 90.9 knockout rate, and has stopped his last 20 opponents.
While Golovkin has captured the attention of the boxing world, Lemieux could give him a real challenge. Lemieux will enter the ring with a 34-2 record; 31 of those victories come by way of knockout. Because 91.1 percent of his victories have been by knockout, Hopkins, a partner at Golden Boy Promotions, is raving about this fight.
“This fight to me has fight-of-the-year, fight-of-the-year written all over it,” Hopkins said. “They have a 90 percent knockout ratio. I’m 99.9 percent telling you that it’s not going the distance. Don’t even ask me who’s going to win or lose. I don’t know. Who hits each other hard enough first.”
Based on the fighting styles of Golovkin and Lemieux, Hopkins compared this fight to the Micky Ward-Arturo Gatti trilogy, where two of their three matches won Ring magazine Fight-of-the-Year in 2002 and 2003.
“Somebody is going to have to take aspirin that night, and some ice packs are going to be loaded up already,” Hopkins said.
While addressing the media, Hopkins mentioned the year in boxing.
“We’re closing this year out with a bang in boxing,” he said. “The beginning of a book of reading is great, the middle, okay you remember, but the ending is always something that you talk about.”
Mayweather and Pacquiao had their lack-luster mega fight this past May, which could lead to assumptions that Hopkins was referring to that bout as the middle of a book that ‘you remember.’ But he was quick to end any thought that he was talking about a specific fight.
“Don’t assume nothing,” he said.
Terrel ‘Tyger’ Williams fights in Costa Mesa
Los Angeles native Terrel ‘Tyger’ Williams puts his undefeated record on the line against perhaps his toughest competition so far in his young career. The 13-0 super welterweight takes on John Williams, who has a 15-3-1 record.
The fight will take place Aug. 27 at The Hanger in Costa Mesa.
Standing at 6-feet tall, Williams is considered tall for a welterweight, and with punching power that has produced 12 knockouts in his 13 bouts, he has been compared to the great Tommy Hearns.
Boxing insiders say that Williams has fast hands, he is smart in the ring, and he punches really hard for a tall, rangy fighter. He has won his last 12 fights by knockout, with six of those coming in the first round.
Like most young fighters, Williams has fought lesser quality opponents to build up his record. But that changes with this fight, because John Williams, who is traveling from Charlotte, N.C., will be the first fighter Terrel Williams has taken on who has a winning record.
John Williams has more experience, and he has had some success against tougher competition, but he has also had his struggles. If Terrel can get this victory on his resume, tougher fights will be coming soon.
Shane Mosley defeats Don King in court,
will now take on Mayorga at the Forum
“Sugar” Shane Mosley’s comeback fight was nearly derailed by boxing promoter Don King, who tried to block Mosley’s fight with Ricardo Mayorga.
King claims that he has a contract to promote Mayorga, so he tried to stop the fight, which is being promoted by Mosley’s company.
Mosley, a former three-division world champion, and former pound-for-pound king, is coming out of retirement at the age of 43 for a grudge match with 41-year-old Mayorga on Aug. 29.
