At a packed house in Madison Square Garden WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (34-0 31 KO’s) took on IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux (34-3 31 KO’s). In front of 20,548 boxing fans, Gennady Golovkin gave a boxing lesson and put a beat down on David Lemieux. Golovkin scored an eighth-round TKO over David Lemieux in a dominating performance.
The atmosphere was drenched in anticipation for the first bell to ring. The crowd was electric and ready. To start off the first round both men traded jabs in the center of the ring. Golovkin kept Lemieux at a distance with his jab for most of the round and then brought out more of his tools in the last minute of the round by landing some right hands over Lemieux’s guard. Lemieux wasn’t able to get off much of anything in the first round.
The second round started off fast with Golovkin landing his jab, right hands, and some left hooks. Golovkin showed some excellent defense by rolling with Lemieux’s punches and even disrupting Lemieux’s rhythm by using movement to evade some punches and circle Lemieux.
Lemieux came out in the third round with a bigger sense of urgency and began to press the fight more. Lemieux was still kept out of range by being consistently hit by Golovkin’s jab. A better round for Lemieux, but it was still Golovkin’s round.
Golovkin hurt Lemieux hurt with a beautiful left hook in the middle of the fourth round while both men were exchanging. Lemieux was backing up to the ropes but still didn’t go down. Lemieux’s legs looked like there were on thin ice, but he survived the round with a smile on his face.
The fifth round was another tough round for Lemieux as he was punished by a thunderous Golovkin right hand. With 20 seconds left in the fifth round, Golovkin landed a hard left hook to the body that forced Lemieux to take a knee. Golovkin came close to being disqualified as he landed a right hand right on Lemieux’s chin while Lemieux was on his knee.
The referee didn’t give Golovkin a warning but it could have been a disastrous turn if Lemieux was unable to continue because of the punch.
The sixth round saw Lemieux find a bit more success by being the first to land, but Golovkin’s punches continued to have more authority. Referee Steve Willis called time to have Lemieux’s badly mangled nose examined by the ringside physician.
At the 1:32 mark in the eighth round the referee was forced to step in to stop the fight as Lemieux was taking a beating. One last body shot landed stopped Lemieux in his tracks and made him cringe. Lemieux looked at the referee to stop the fight or take some action and the ref obliged.
We learned that Golovkin’s jab and defense were underrated. Judging from the attendance and crowd at Madison Square Garden, Golovkin is now officially one of the top attractions in the sport of boxing.
“I told this is very important fight. I’m very happy. I gave my friends and fans big show, big event. Thank you to all my fans. David is very good fighter, very strong fighter. I must show everyone for my second step that I can box him too. I’m not just a puncher or crazy fighter. I am a boxer. My goal is all the belts in the middleweight division. I am a boxer, not a businessman. Look I want all the belts. Who’s next doesn’t matter for me,” Golovkin said to HBO’s Max Kellerman in his post-fight interview.
Golovkin also commented about the possibility of fighting the winner of Cotto-Canelo, who fight on Nov. 21.
“Two great champions and I want to meet with the winner.”
Lemieux was not happy about the stoppage but gave Golovkin his respect.
“Well there were some rounds that were pretty close and, I was just waiting for the right moment to connect. I give him all the respect. Tonight he is the champion. I’m not too sure about the stoppage because I feel I could have continued. I’ll keep my mouth shut tonight but, I want things to be settled in the future. I want Golovkin again in the near future. We planned a lot of different things and certain things worked out well but, I didn’t have 100 percent of all my shots connecting. He’s a good fighter I’ll give him my respect but hopefully in the near future I’ll get my chance again.” Lemieux told Max Kellerman in the post-fight interview.
In the main supporting undercard bout for the main event Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (44-0 38 KO’s) of Nicaragua took on Hawaii’s Brian “Hawaiian Punch” Viloria (36-5 22 KO’s) for the WBC World flyweight title. Roman Gonzalez scored a ninth-round TKO over Brian Viloria in one of the best performances of his career where he displayed his full arsenal and proved that the hype behind him was warranted.
The first round started with Viloria coming out fast and immediately throwing an overhand right at Gonzalez. Viloria let his intentions be known as he kept coming at Gonzalez’s body with right hands from the outside. With 30 seconds left in the round, Viloria unloaded some left hook combinations to Gonzalez and the Nicaraguan fired back and backed Viloria up with some straight right hands and right uppercuts.
Viloria again in the second round came out firing with right hands. Gonzalez was content to remain patient and look for openings by allowing Viloria to get off with more punches. A tactic he may have gotten from Hall of Famer and fellow countryman Alexis Arguello.
Gonzalez began making his imprint on the fight by backing up Viloria and landing some great body shots. Viloria, however, kept answering back and landed his own left hooks to the head and body.
At the 2:30 mark of the third round Roman Gonzalez scored the first knockdown of Viloria’s career with a short right hand on the inside that was barely visible in real time. Gonzalez began to unload on Viloria and display his great timing and seemed to be on the way to stopping or knocking down Viloria again. The pace slowed down a bit in the middle of the round, but Gonzalez remained patient and landed some devastating uppercuts and right hands.
The fourth round was another back and forth round, and Viloria seemed to hurt Gonzalez with a right hand, but Gonzalez, almost sensing that a momentum swing may be occurring, came back with combinations to that backed Viloria up into the corner.
Viloria, though, kept the round close by consistently landing a great left hook to the body on Gonzalez in between many of the combinations that Gonzalez threw. This was a very competitive match up with two men at their best.
Gonzalez turned the heat up in the fifth round and was the one this time who came out firing at Viloria. The punch sequences for Gonzalez were marvelous as he kept turning and backing up Viloria with jabs, straight rights, body shots, and uppercuts. Gonzalez looked to be on the upswing in this round, and Viloria looked like he was slowing down as the left hooks to the body weren’t as prevalent in the round.
At the halfway point of the bout, Gonzalez was starting to dominate Viloria and Hawaiian was moving around the ring less and less.
The eighth round was a testament to the toughness of Brian Viloria. Gonzalez threw at Viloria many combinations, even a 13-punch combination that hurt Viloria with straight rights and body punches.
Viloria never seemed out of it, and just when you thought he might be ready to go, he threw a combination at Gonzalez to back him up against the ropes. ‘
The ninth round saw Gonzalez pepper Viloria with tremendous straight rights consistently, and it looked like Viloria may need to be saved from himself as he was too tough for his sake. Out of nowhere it seemed Viloria hurt Gonzalez with a body shot that stopped Gonzalez in his tracks however this was Viloria’s last hurrah.
Soon afterward Gonzalez unloading more combinations while backing up Viloria against the ropes while landing perfectly timed straight rights in combination. As a result, the referee was forced to stop the match with just seven seconds left in the ninth round.
“I knew I was going to face a really good opponent in Brian Viloria, but I came in my best condition to win this fight. He was very tough. Truthfully all of his punches hurt but when you have really good physical conditioning, you can withstand those punches. Thank God I was able to take his punches. My corner was telling me to attack the body quite a bit and came back over the top, and that’s how I won,” Gonzalez said to Kellerman.
“He’s number one for a reason. He’s a great fighter very strong, very precise with his punches. I didn’t expect the right hand to land clean like that. I got caught, and I gotta give it to him. He’s got really crisp punches, keeps it really tight defensively. Yes, he is the best fighter I have ever fought,” Viloria told Kellerman.
The second bout of the telecast featured two heavyweights step in the ring as Luis Ortiz (23-0 20 KO’s) took on Matias Vidondo (20-2 18 KO’s) for the interim WBA heavyweight title. The Real King Kong lived up to his nickname, as he knocked out Matias Vidondo with a straight left hand in impressive fashion just 17 seconds into the third round.
As the first round began, it was clear that Vidondo was a bit soft around the mid-section and Ortiz, the former Cuban amateur standout, was able to outbox Vidondo easily.
Ortiz landed some great straights left to the body and the head in the second round and as Vidondo bounced off the ropes with 30 seconds left in the round, Ortiz clobbered Vidondo with a well-timed right hook and down he went. Vidondo wobbled back to the corner, as the end seemed to be near.
Ortiz finished the fight with 2:43 left in the third round with a beautiful straight left that dropped Vidondo flat on his face. Hopefully, we will see more of Ortiz in the future as his combination of skill and power could give anyone in the heavyweight division problems.
To kick off the PPV telecast at Madison Square Garden, we started off the way we ended with a middleweight bout. Tureano Johnson (19-1, 13 KO’s) took on Eamonn O’Kane (14-2-1, 5 KO’s) in an IBF title eliminator where the winner would become the mandatory for the winner of the main event. Johnson won a unanimous decision in an action-packed opener by scorecards of 118-108,117-109 and 119-107.
Johnson came out in the first round and set a quick pace and looked like he was fighting angry. Johnson landed some very hard right hooks and overhand lefts and scored a knockdown with 1:20 left in the round with a clean right hook.
With 35 seconds left in the first round, Johnson took O’Kane down again with another right hook and it seemed that Johnson could not miss.
The second round was fought in a phone booth, and Johnson punished O’Kane with right hands and left hooks. O’Kane, however, was able to turn things around for himself by backing Johnson up against the ropes and land some body shots while he took some very hard counters from Johnson.
At the start of the third it was evident that Johnson expended too much energy going full force against O’Kane as he came out on the back foot and attempted to box from the outside. O’Kane decided that the fight wasn’t going to be fought on the outside, and both men again traded punches in the center of the ring where Johnson got the better of most exchanges by finding a home with a beautiful right uppercut.
Johnson showed some more versatility in the fourth round as he switched his punch selection and started to land a straight left from a southpaw stance. O’Kane was game for the entire round, but he still took a beating and as an observer you wondered how much more could he take.
O’Kane would go on to have his best round of the night whether he won it or not. O’Kane backed Johnson up against the ropes for the entire round and landed to the body as well as left hooks up top.
O’Kane landed many crushing shots in the round, even landing a double right uppercut on Johnson’s chin.
The sixth round of the bout saw Johnson dip in activity a bit as O’Kane outthrew Johnson, although Johnson still managed to land the cleaner shots in the round.
Rounds seven, eight, and nine all followed the same pattern of O’Kane getting Johnson on the ropes while being countered and hit with very hard punches from all angles.
The championship rounds saw the pace slow down for both fighters, but both warriors still fought in a phone booth. Johnson ended up breaking a middleweight record for most punches landed in a middleweight bout tracked by Compubox, and of course, won the fight.
– Hector Franco @mrhector_franco
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