By Radio Rahim

Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum reflected on last Saturday's HBO televised doubleheader from Verona, New York - where in the main event former IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux (37-3, 33 KOs) had a very scary third round knockout of Curtis "The Cerebral Assassin" Stevens (29-6, 21 KOs).

And in the televised co-feature, Olympic gold medal winner Yuriorkis Gamboa (26-1, 17 KOs) secured a ten round unanimous decision win over Nicaragua's Rene Alvarado (24-8, 16 KOs). The scores ere  97-92, 97-92, and 97-93. 

Lemieux's knockout of Stevens is a prime candidate for knockout of the year, after landing a huge left hand that rendered Stevens unconscious for what seemed to be minutes.

Arum was impressed with the knockout, but feels Lemieux is still a limited fighter, which is why an A-level talent like Gennady Golovkin was able to easily break him down and stop him in their clash in the fall of 2015.

At the same time, Arum held his nose in the air when discussing Gamboa's win over Alvarado. The ten round fight was very tough on eyes, with the Olympic gold medal winner choosing to outbox and overmatched opponent in a technical manner for a decision win. The live crowd showered the contest with boos throughout the fight, and the viewers on HBO expressed their anger on social media.  

Arum had promoted Gamboa at one time, until they parted ways when Gamboa refused to go forward with a planned fight against Brandon Rios.

"I thought it was a very, very good knockout - but Lemieux is limited, because he gets hit too easy, so a guy like Golovkin can take him apart. That being said, it was an entertaining fight," Arum told BoxingScene.com.

"But the fight that proceeded it, the Gamboa fight, was a tremendously awful fight. Gamboa is a joke. He is a guy who is very, very talented but he won't engage. He wasn't fighting King Kong in there, he should have gone in and tried to destroy him.