David Lemieux: I'm not scared of Gennady Golovkin

David Lemieux (33-2, 31 KO) was pretty impressive stopping Gabriel Rosado in the 10th round on HBO tonight, and when asked specifically about Gennady Golovkin, he told HBO's Max Kellerman that he wasn't scared of the undefeated WBA middleweight champ, and that he's ready to fight the best in the division.

Lemieux also gave praise to Rosado (21-9, 13 KO), who was once again valiant in defeat, but once again came up short.

"Rosado is one hell of a fighter who gave me one hell of a night," Lemieux said of his opponent. "I wanted to show you all what I can do, I hope you liked it. I wanted to make a statement here. Rosado was a lot better than I even thought. Hats off to him, and I hope you enjoyed it."

Asked what makes him different than the fighter who lost to Marco Antonio Rubio and Joachim Alcine in 2011, Lemieux said it was an "easy" answer.

"The preparation has been way different," he told Kellerman. "My team has been much different. They changed everything. I know what Rosado wanted to do. He wanted to take me to deep waters. He thought I was going to gas out in the later rounds, but I said before the fight that wouldn't be the case. We prepared for a 12 round fight, and to be explosive from the first round to the 12th round. That's what I gave you all."

But the big question remains: Is Lemieux really a top middleweight, or is he a hard-punching guy who will fail against the best in the division? He's ready to find out.

"I'm a middleweight fighter. I'm willing to be world champion. I'm ready to fight anybody at 160. Gennady Golovkin, Quillin, Cotto, whoever is at 160. I'm not afraid of nobody. I'm willing to fight everybody. I train hard, I give it my best every time I get in the ring. I wanna be the best, so I'll have to fight the best. Gennady Golovkin, I'm not scared of him."

Rosado gave Lemieux credit for the win, but said he felt he was able to have some success in spite of a bad eye injury.

"He's a good fighter," Rosado said of Lemieux, adding that a third round knockdown and the eye injury from that made the real difference. "Honest to goodness, man, it was just difficult seeing. As soon as the eye puffed up, I literally was seeing three of him the whole fight. Right now I can't even see. I was trying to fight, trying to counter as best I could with one eye. It's just my luck, man."

Rosado told Kellerman that Lemieux may be ready to be considered a top middleweight, but he had some reservations about it, too.

"Yeah, you know, but I felt like I was doing good when I was able to box. I started the fight off with the game plan, moving, making him jmiss, countering. I felt like I could have took control of the fight easily. I just wound up being a little handicapped with the eye. He's a good fighter, though, I give him credit."