Boxer David Lemieux sees the timing as perfect to take on undefeated Gennady Golovkin

The opportunity — if that’s what fighting a man with 20 consecutive knockouts can be called — brought David Lemieux to the question that confronts all adults.

“Am I ready for it or not?”

Lemieux, 26, didn’t take long to answer yes, a decision that created Saturday’s HBO pay-per-view middleweight title-unification fight against unbeaten Gennady Golovkin (33-0, 30 knockouts) at Madison Square Garden.

Lemieux’s confidence was boosted by a four-knockdown, unanimous-decision victory over Hassan N’Dam on June 20 to win the International Boxing Federation middleweight title.

The purse was a whopper: $1.5 million, or 10 times greater than the next-best pay day for Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs).

Suddenly, the timing on his career path seemed ideal.

“It came down to a search of what we really need to do,” Lemieux said. “And I decided this is what I want. After what I’ve done in different fights, I said, ‘I’m ready. Let’s do it. Let’s get it on.’ ”

Unlike Golovkin, Lemieux has lost as a pro: twice in 2011.

Before Marco Antonio Rubio of Mexico wilted before Golovkin in a second-round knockout loss in Carson last year, Rubio scored a technical knockout of Lemieux in April 2011.

That led Lemieux to split with his trainer, Russ Anber, less than two months before his next bout, a majority decision loss to Joachim Alcine in December 2011.

Lemieux dismisses Anber’s post-split comments questioning the boxer’s commitment as “propaganda.”

He united with current trainer Marc Ramsey and ended seven of his next eight bouts by knockout, five before the third round was over.

“I’ve always been a hard worker since I’ve been a child and it’s proved now that I’m doing great things with my new trainer,” Lemieux said.

“So many things are new … a strength and conditioning trainer. Adding Marc Ramsey made me a better overall fighter, not just a four-round-type fighter. Before 2011, I was just training in boxing. My morning routine was jogging.

“Things have changed. My power is a lot more. The endurance is better. Everything is coming together. I have the right team around me.”

Golovkin won his World Boxing Assn. middleweight title five years ago, and when he sees Lemieux’s vibrancy, he recalls the enthusiasm a new belt provides.

“He feels ready for a fight like this [because] he’s a champion, he feels like a star [now], so he feels stronger,” Golovkin said. “He has good power. It’s a dangerous fight for me.”

In January, Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions signed Lemieux, gaining him the counsel of former longtime middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins. The union worked with the destruction of N’Dam, which was quickly followed by Golovkin’s interest.

Lemieux committed to the bout in his first conversation with De La Hoya, when the former six-division champion told Lemieux that Golovkin “is very good, but he’s got some flaws and I think you can take advantage of those flaws.”

In a news conference last week, Golovkin’s trainer, Abel Sanchez, was less complimentary of Lemieux than Golovkin was, calling the Canadian a “thumper,” more than a devastating puncher.

“I’m not thinking about what Abel Sanchez is saying, but I can tell you that anybody I can hit, I’m going to hurt,” Lemieux said. “I don’t need to say it. Look at my record. Golovkin has won 400 fights since the amateurs, but I’m going to make sure to be the one to make him say, ‘No one else has ever hit me like this in my entire career.’

“I’ll be very well prepared, even better than in the N’Dam fight. I’m going to surprise people with what I’m going to bring to the table.”

lance.pugmire@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimespugmire

BOXING

Who: Gennady Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs), Kazakhstan, vs. David Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs), Canada, for the WBA and IBF middleweight titles.

Where: Madison Square Garden, New York

When: Saturday, pay-per-view broadcast begins at 6 p.m. Pacific

Television: HBO pay-per-view, $59.95 high-definition.

Undercard: Roman “Chocalitito” Gonzalez (43-0, 37 KOs) vs. Brian Viloria (36-4, 22 KOs) for Gonzalez’s WBC flyweight title; Luis Ortiz (22-0, 19 KOs) vs. Matias Ariel Vidondo (20-1-1, 18 KOs), heavyweights; Tureano Johnson (18-1, 13 KOs) vs. Eamonn O’Kane (17-1-1, five KOs), middleweights.