Boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya is confident that David Lemieux will score a big win against undefeated world champion Gennady Golovkin in their upcoming showdown on Oct. 17 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
De La Hoya knows that Golovkin is oozing with confidence after knocking down his last 20 opponents, including Willie Monroe Jr. and Martin Murray earlier this year.
Golovkin is undefeated in 33 fights and 30 of those victories came by knockout. But next month, De La Hoya is convinced that Lemieux will be able to bring Golovkin back down to earth.
"Golovkin's confidence level is very high, but he will suffer a hard return to reality on October 17," De La Hoya told BoxingScene. "Golovkin cannot afford to look ahead because nobody has been beaten yet. Looking too far ahead can sometimes be very distracting."
Lemieux, who holds a 34-2 record with 31 knockouts, is under De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions. The 26-year-old Canadian is coming off an impressive unanimous decision win against Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam in June.
Although the fight ended in a decision, Lemieux managed to display his punching power after flooring his opponent once in the second round, twice in the fifth round and once in the 7th round.
Earlier this month, De La Hoya predicted a knockout victory for Lemieux. He said that Golovkin will be an easier target compared to N'Dam because Golovkin will not be able to use his usual boxing style on Oct. 17.
"I believe it is going to be easier than N'Dam because of his style," De La Hoya said. "N'Dam was a long range fighter and was using his distance and I believe David will knock out Golovkin. GGG has not faced a strong fighter and a smart fighter like David Lemieux in his career."
Like his promoter, Lemieux is also confident that he will be able to prove his doubters wrong in the biggest fight of his life. He pointed out that the support that he is getting from De La Hoya and boxing legend Bernard Hopkins, who is also affiliated Golden Boy Promotions, is a big boost to his confidence.
"To have two legends like Oscar and Bernard supporting me, it adds a lot of fuel to the fire," Lemieux said. "They have already shown me a little road, but now it's my turn to continue on it. There won't be anything that's easy, but I have confidence in my abilities."
