Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin on Thursday was on hand at the Raddison Hotel near LAX. He was there for a news conference promoting his upcoming title defense against Curtis Stevens on Nov. 2 at Madison Square Garden (on HBO).

Golovkin was born and raised in Kazakhstan and represented his country in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, where he won a silver medal. During an interview session with reporters, he talked about all the sports he played as a kid. One reporter asked him if he ever played hockey.

Golovkin held up his dukes and smiled.

“No, too much fighting,” he said.

It was just a one-liner, but his delivery coupled with the irony – though fake – was enough to have every reporter as well as PR types laughing their heads off.

Golovkin, 31, is 27-0 with 24 knockouts. Stevens, 28, is from Brownsville, N.Y. He is 25-3 with 18 knockouts.