MONTREAL - Middleweight boxing star Gennady Golovkin admits he's a little nervous about facing Canada's David Lemieux.

Both are devastating power punchers and their bout Oct. 17 at Madison Square Garden in New York isn't expected to last long before one knocks the other out cold.

While most believe Golovkin will be the one left standing, boxing has sayings about big hitters always having a "puncher's chance" to win.

"David is a great champion, he's a very dangerous guy," Golovkin said Wednesday. "Everybody has a chance. I think it's a very hard fight for us."

The 26-year-old Lemieux (34-2, 31 knockouts), a southpaw who tends to put defence aside to launch frenzied attacks, won the vacant International Boxing Federation title June 20 with a unanimous decision over Hassan N'Dam at the Bell Centre.

The Montreal native passed up milking the title with a couple of easy defences and to accept a title unification bout with Glovokin, the mauler from Kazakhstan considered by The Ring magazine as the world's best middleweight and the fourth-best pound for pound in any weight class.

Golovkin (33-0, 30 knockouts) holds the World Boxing Association belt as well as two lesser world titles (IBO, interim WBC).

Promoters in New York said 15,000 tickets were sold in the first week for what promises to be a sold-out thriller.

And the winner is expected to face whoever comes out on top of a Nov. 21 showdown between the linear middleweight champion, Miguel Cotto, and red-headed Mexican star Saul (Canelo) Alvarez.

Asked who he thought would win that bout, Golovkin said: "The fans. It's 50-50."

That's how Lemieux's camp sees the bout with the fighter nicknamed Triple-G.

Bernard Hopkins, the middleweight king from the 1990s and early 2000s who now works for Lemieux's promoter Golden Boy, said it reminded him of his win over 6-to-1 favourite Felix Trinidad in 2001.

But Lemieux's trainer Marc Ramsay knows he has his work cut out for him finding a way to beat one of the best in the business.

"We respect Golovkin because he is such a complete fighter," said Ramsay. "It's not just speed or technique or power.

"If he only had one of those it would be relatively easy to neutralize, but when you have a complete fighter the strategy gets more complex. And you can't just get one sparring partner to imitate Golovkin. It'll take a few guys to cover various aspects."

The head of Golden Boy, Oscar De La Hoya, sent a tweet suggesting Golovkin will also have to be well prepared.

"Golovkin has never faced a fighter with the will, speed, power and stiff hard jab along with tremendous boxing ability when needed. #Lemieux," De La Hoya wrote.

To which Golovkin replied: "It will be a great fight. Definitely a challenging one."

A news conference to promote the bout turned into a dud when Golovkin and his team arrived 75 minutes late after Lemieux had left. No face-to-face photos. No verbal give-and-and between fighters.

Golovkin's promoter Tom Loeffler apologized and said he was misinformed by one of his staff on the starting time. Several dozen fans who turned out to the new conference booed when he finally showed up.

Lemieux's manager Camille Esptaphan accepted the apology, but said "On Oct. 17, I'm going to make sure they pay the price."

And Lemieux tweeted: "Golovkin late for press conference in Montreal.. Hope he won't be late for the fight October 17th."