The Hottest Boxing Storylines for the Week of October 18
Gennady Golovkin came, saw and destroyed David Lemieux on Saturday night at a sold-out Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The destructive Kazakh puncher adds Lemieux's championship to what's a rapidly growing collection and sets up the possibility for huge middleweight showdowns a bit further down the path.
Can anyone stop this guy?
And will the winner of Miguel Cotto and Saul "Canelo" Alvarez's clash for the lineal championship later this year have the guts to step in there with the scariest fighter on the planet?
GGG was the story, but not the only one from Saturday night.
We take a look at pound-for-pound king (get used to it) Roman Gonzalez's dominant win over former champion Brian Viloria before turning our attention to Terence Crawford's title defense this coming weekend and the latest on Amir Khan.
These are the hottest boxing storylines for the week.
Can Anyone Stop GGG?
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No.
Golovkin decimated Lemieux in front of better than 20,000 fans in New York City's Madison Square Garden, adding the IBF Middleweight Championship to his WBA and interim WBC versions while stopping his 21st foe in a row in brutal fashion.
Lemieux, a rugged power-punching Canadian who won his first world title earlier this year, was believed by many to be among the few fighters with the type of power to challenge the Kazakh monster.
Again, no.
Golovkin walked through every big shot Lemieux landed (there were a few) and systematically broke his will (and face) en route to a merciful eighth-round stoppage by referee Steve Willis, who made himself something of an Internet sensation with his comical looks whenever GGG landed a big shot to Lemieux's dome.
It was complete and utter domination.
Lemieux was game but overmatched, outclassed and destined to get seriously hurt if the fight went on. By the end of the fight his nose was gushing blood, and there was really nothing left for him beyond eating one more big shot that would have left him cold on the canvas.
GGG resembles a Terminator more and more with each fight. Opponents' shots, even the biggest ones (and Lemieux can punch) just bounce off and do nothing to distract him from the goal of finding his foes, zeroing in on the attack and destroying them.
He just keeps coming. Nothing deters him, and nothing stops him.
He's a scary, scary dude.
Will the Cotto/Canelo Winner Step Up and Face GGG?
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To quote Cotto after his knockout of Daniel Geale at the Barclays Center earlier this year: "Ummmmmmmmmmmmm."
Golovkin is clearly a huge attraction (he sold out the big room at MSG and will be hoping for strong pay-per-view numbers), but he's lethal in the ring. The answer to this question very much depends on who walks out of the Mandalay Bay this November with the WBC Middleweight Championship among his luggage.
Cotto has been, shall we say, reluctant (being generous) whenever asked about the prospect of facing GGG. His trainer Freddie Roach, always full of bravado on behalf of his charges, said he hoped Golovkin would follow Canelo for his man, but you'd probably be best served not holding your breath on that one.
Unless the money is phenomenal, you won't see Cotto jumping in front of that train.
Canelo, on the other hand, has something of a throwback attitude when it comes to fights and fighting. He's been on the record many, many times as wanting the best fights against the best fighters. He took on Austin Trout when nobody wanted to face him. Ditto for Erislandy Lara, whom he narrowly defeated less than a year after a deflating loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr.
His promoter Oscar De La Hoya, likewise, remains committed (his words) to putting forth the best and most exciting fights. He told Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated (h/t Scott Chris of Bad Left Hook) that he would "absolutely" make a GGG-Canelo fight next should his man win in November.
That's a hell of a risky proposition for Canelo and Golden Boy, which saw its other two premier fighters (Lemieux and Lucas Matthysse) suffer bad losses just two weeks apart.
De La Hoya isn't known for talking the talk and not walking the walk, but will he throw his biggest star back into that den of wolves after this past Saturday night?
He says yes, but how soon remains the question.
Did Chocolatito Perform Like the Pound-for-Pound King?
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You really can't find two more exciting fighters to share a PPV bill than GGG and Chocolatito Gonzalez.
One is the newly installed pound-for-pound king (Gonzalez was elevated by ESPN and The Ring Magazine shortly after Mayweather's retirement), and the other might be his chief competition for the distinction.
Both are pedal-to-the-medal stalkers who come forward and seek nothing less than the termination of their foe.
Gonzalez thrashed former multi-time titlist Brian Viloria in the co-featured bout on the PPV Saturday night, dropping him for the first time of his career in the third round before forcing a stoppage in the ninth. He blasted him with vicious combination punches that came at lightning speed and lit up the raucous MSG crowd whenever he let his hands go.
Viloria was a game opponent, one of the better fighters in the lower weight divisions over the past several years, and he tried his best to make this into a competitive fight. He was simply outclassed by a surging opponent heading in the opposite direction.
Gonzalez has a couple of intriguing options at flyweight, should be continue to campaign there, or he could move up in weight and try his hand with a new set of opponents.
Regardless of what he chooses, Chocolatito has made an impression on American fight fans with a pair of destructive performances in high-profile slots. His ascent has only just begun.
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Why Has Terence Crawford Stalled?
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Crawford has elite-level skills, an engaging personality and has brought big-time boxing back to his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, not exactly known for being a traditional hotbed for the sweet science.
You'll be able to find more than a few people in the boxing world who believe that Crawford, voted the 2014 Fighter of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America, has a chance to eventually ascend to the throne atop the pound-for-pound rankings.
Which, of course, begs the question of why Saturday night, where he'll defend his WBO Junior Welterweight Championship against Dierry jean in Omaha, is just the second time he'll appear in the ring this year.
Crawford impressively stopped former highly-rated prospect Thomas Dulorme back in April in Arlington, Texas, as part of a split-site doubleheader on HBO that was headlined by Lucas Matthysse vs. Ruslan Provodnikov. His fight was a complete afterthought to the main event.
That's not how you build a star this day in age.
Crawford needs to be in the ring as often as possible, and, while his commitment to building a brand in Omaha and expanding boxing into a new market is admirable, he needs to start transitioning from a local attraction to the mainstream.
He has the talent and personality to become a huge star, but, for that to happen, he needs to get in front of as many eyes as possible.
Should Amir Khan Stop Chasing and Just Take the Best Fights Available?
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Yes, please.
Please, please, please.
Khan has elite-level speed (maybe even the fastest hands in the entire sport) and has accomplished a great deal, but his constant harping about Mayweather has gotten to the point where we can rightly wonder whether or not he's delusional.
His well-publicized chasing (often with ridiculous comments) of Mayweather came to a brief (but sure to return) end when rumors surfaced that the Bolton native was in the running for Pacquiao's next, and possibly final, fight, per the Mirror.
But, per BBC Sports, the former junior welterweight champion is moving on with other options now that a Pacquiao tilt seems unlikely. Those include Garcia (who knocked him out in 2012), Lamont Peterson (who took a controversial decision from him in 2011) and Kell Brook, who was supposed to face Diego Chaves this weekend but pulled out with an injury.
The latter fight has been in demand for quite some time, but Khan has constantly avoided the subject or kicked the can down the road so he could pursue bigger names. Now that the well seems to run dry on that front, it's time for Khan to get back to fighting in the ring instead of running his mouth fruitlessly outside of it.
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