Canelo Alvarez (interview with Fight Hype): Well, it [Golovkin vs. Lemieux fight] was really slow at the beginning, and just the jab alone of Golovkin finished Lemieux. Lemieux didn’t have anything that night. I did a lot of sparring with him in the past, and I was 20-years-old when I did it, but I know what I can do. He’s a strong fighter. He’s a strong fighter more than anything, but he also knows how to do various things. Yes, me and him could throw hard because in a lot of sparring you can’t throw hard with your full potential. Me and him were able to do it, and it was one world champion middleweight against a world champion super welterweight. You don’t always see that. It was very good. He’s a very strong fighter, but I think I am also. I didn’t feel him/the power like people say, and that’s probably because I’m a strong fighter also,”
Martin Murray: “He was so strong, I just couldn’t keep him off. I felt his power, but it was more his pressure.”
Gabe Rosado: “When he hit me in the first round I just felt straight solid wraps. It wasn’t like it was just an impact of a glove – it felt like a little butt hitting the top of my head. I do believe that his gloves are different than any other fighter that I ever fought before. We both fought with Grant (gloves) but for whatever reason his Grants were missing a little extra cushion on the knuckles. Triple G’s gloves – Grant definitely makes custom gloves for his guy – just kind of suspect about them gloves.”
Shane Mosley: “When I sparred with Triple G he wasn’t world champion yet. He just came to the U.S. He was working out hard and everything. We didn’t spar hard. He was very strong, physically strong, he’s heavy-handed. He does have good power.”
Daniel Geale: “There was a good reason why nobody wanted to fight Gennady Golovkin, he’s not too bad. I felt like I had to go out there and have a go. There were moments when I probably let him come to me a little bit too much. There were parts where I had certain plans and I probably didn’t execute them too well. But you live and you learn and against a guy like that, it can be difficult. If we got a rematch with Golovkin I would definitely try and do things differently. But I’m still happy to fight any of the other champions as well. I’m up for everybody. In boxing, nobody is unbeatable. I got caught and I got beat in a world title fight but that doesn’t mean that’s it. If anything, it’s made me more determined.”
Curtis Stephens: “Well, it was fun. Obviously he beat me but it was a great fight. For how long it lasted. I was surprised by his poise, how calm he was.”
Scoop Malinowski is the author of Facing Federer, Facing Nadal, Facing Hewitt, and Facing McEnroe. Each of his books is available at amazon.