Right after Montreal slugger David Lemieux dropped Hassan N'Dam four times in a unanimous decision victory to win a vacant middleweight world title on June 20, Lemieux's promoters, Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy and Camille Estephan of Eye of the Tiger, said they were interested in a unification fight with fearsome Gennady Golovkin -- but not until next year.
De La Hoya said Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs) would fight again in the fall but in his mandatory defense -- even though the identity of his mandatory challenger had not even been set yet.
Of course, being that Lemieux has the IBF title, he could bypass the mandatory in favor of Golovkin because the IBF clearly states in its rules that it will allow a unification fight to go before a mandatory defense.
But it seemed as though Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs), who none of the big names are rushing to fight, was going to have to look for another opponent. He would like any unification fight or even super middleweight champion Andre Ward, although that is a very hard deal to make and seems unlikely for the fall.
Now it seems, however, that the prospect of a Golovkin-Lemieux unification fight -- a very fan-friendly fight and one HBO would love to put on (and one that will cost the network a pretty penny) -- has a chance of happening. Both sides acknowledge that they are at least talking about a deal. The target is Oct. 17, which is on hold at New York's Madison Square Garden for the fight.
Hey, if you don't talk nothing will get done, so at least having dialogue is a great start.
"We're exploring options for David Lemieux and discussing things with Tom Loeffler [Golovkin's promoter from K2 Promotions]," De La Hoya told ESPN.com this week. "We'll see if we can make it. I'll sit down with [Golden Boy vice president] Eric Gomez and see if it's even possible. But my mind is always open to giving fans the best fights and this is one of the best fights."
Estephan has also heard the fan demand for the GGG-Lemieux fight and is interested in making it but with the age-old caveat: As long as the money is right.
"Everyone is asking when are we going to see David versus Golovkin? Well when the financials are right we will do it," he said. "No doubt in my mind it would be one crazy fight. Obviously, fans want to see. We would not go in there if we didn't believe that David could hurt Golovkin. David is that throwback fighter that people love and in his last performances he showed that he could box, showed an excellent jab, showed that he has the endurance to be firing bombs from round 1 through 12, and those bombs hurt people.
"We can literally say that David is in the hurt business. Believe me, we think David will hurt Golovkin. Golovkin is certainly a great fighter, but without wanting to divulge our strategy we feel very good about our chances. People want to see Golovkin tested and we are willing if it makes business sense. We are talking and the door is open. Having said that, we are well aware that David is only 26 and is getting better day by day where Golovkin is now 33. So time is on our side. We're not in a rush."
As for Golovkin camp, GGG, Loeffler, trainer Abel Sanchez and the rest of the team have wanted nothing more than to fight big fights and unification fights. Golovkin has said it time and again. He was willing to move up to super middleweight last summer to fight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., who declined a huge offer. Golovkin was also willing to go to England to face Carl Froch, who never took it very seriously and retired.
"It has always been GGG's priority to unify all the titles in the middleweight division," Loeffler said. "If we can make a fight with Lemieux, he would be one step closer to his goal."
And, if they can make that fight, we're all in for a treat.
Article Courtesy of Dan Rafael, ESPN