Photo by EOTTM
By the end of 2011, David Lemieux (33-2, 31 KOs) was quickly on the rise.
The native of Quebec, Canada was undefeated, had knocked out 24 out of 25 opponents, and was en route to a title shot when he took on Marco Antonio Rubio in a WBC title eliminator in April of that year.
Lemieux, 26, had literally beat Rubio up during the first half of the fight, backing him up with his signature combination of speed and power.
But then, in a fate many power punchers face when an iron-chinned opponent doesn’t go down early, Lemieux seemed to get tired, and was knocked down in Round 7.
Lemieux could have continued, but his then-trainer, Russ Anber, threw in the towel to prevent more damage to a young fighter who was only 22 at the time.
In his following fight against Joachim Alcine, Lemieux would lose again, but this time via majority decision.
His route to a world title was clearly derailed, and he needed to take some time to move back into the upper echelon of the Middleweight division.
Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images
Lemieux took his time to go back up the 160-pound division, beating six less-than-stellar opponents before returning to American television sets in April of 2014.
With several changes in his career, including a new trainer, Lemieux was back on track for a title shot with a stoppage win over Fernando Guerrero on a Showtime-televised card headlined by Adonis Stevenson.
But one question remained, did he make any changes to his style of fighting? Could he really fight at 100 miles per hour for 12 rounds?
Lemieux would have to answer that in his next fight against Gabe Rosado, which was scheduled for 12 rounds in his American debut at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
In that fight, Lemieux seemed to have made the necessary changes and was dominant for 10 rounds before referee Steve Willis stopped the fight amidst a bloody beatdown of Rosado.
Lemieux looks like he can go 12 rounds without a problem, but his next opponent presents a different style.
Nevertheless, in his first title shot after a two setbacks, Lemieux says he’s confident going into his June 20 fight against Hassan N’Dam (31-1, 18 KOs) at the Bell Centre in Montreal, which will be televised by Fox Sports 2 and Fox Deportes in the U.S.
“I wouldn’t say I’m overconfident, I’m well aware of who I’m facing,” said Lemieux.
Indeed, despite losing to Peter Quillin in the first defense of his WBO title, N’Dam is undefeated in his four fights since then, the final of which ended in a complete boxing clinic of Curtis Stevens in Santa Monica, California.
The question is whether N’Dam can box as well in front of a completely different puncher and, if he can, how Lemieux will look later down the stretch.
“There were certain things I wasn’t able to do that I can now. I had a certain way of fighting, there were certain things missing, and now I can say that I am a complete fighter,” says Lemieux.
This must certainly mean that he has at least learned to pace himself just a bit, and if N’Dam can dance his way into the later rounds–six knockdowns against Quillin tells me he won’t be standing toe-to-toe with Lemieux–then we’ll learn if he can go 12 rounds without getting exhausted
Or, which is what a lot of people expect, Lemieux may knock N’Dam out in exciting fashion in the early rounds. In either case, he joins a power-punching list of fighters in or around the Middleweight division that include Gennady Golovkin, Canelo Alvarez and Miguel Cotto.
Tonight, we will see if he deserves to be a part of that list.
