Photo edit by Keystone Boxing
Canadian David Lemieux and American Gabriel Rosado go head to head on Saturday, December 6, 2014 for the NABF Middleweight world title.
Losing this fight for Rosado would give him a defeated streak that could put his name out of the game for a while, making a W detrimental to his career.
Here’s three tactics that the American should bear in mind when he steps into the ring.
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1. Use Jesse Reid
Recently, Gabe Rosado ditched his old trainer, Billy Briscoe (peacefully) and started up with Jesse Reid.
Among many things that Reid has tweaked is an emphasis on Rosado sitting down on his punches to create more power behind them. More power you say, huh? We’ll see how that works against the heavy-handed David Lemieux.
But this switch of a trainer could and should be a beneficial switch. Briscoe was great while it lasted, but when Rosado lost his last four fights, it’s time to switch it up.
It’ll be nice to have a new corner for Rosado, and the different perspective in camp can only lead to a more proficient multi-dimensional fighter.
What we need Gabriel to do now is to not let all this go to waste. Sure, Billy’s training was great, but the switch was for a reason, and the voice in the back of Rosado’s head this Saturday should be Reid’s, not Briscoe’s.
2. Fight Fire with Fire
Photo by Tom Casino/Showtime
The majority of David Lemieux’s fights end in the first or second round via knockout of some sort. Now keep in mind, 22 of these fights were set up to be 8 rounds total, or less. Puts a different perspective on things. But, we still need to give credit to the man since all three of his 12 round bouts still ended in three rounds or less.
Lemieux is an extraordinary knockout-artist. And…that’s it.
There is a problem to constantly knocking out the opponent within minutes of climbing into the ring, and that involves not being able to practice defense like other fighters have.
If Gabe Rosado can scrape past Lemieux’s unbelievably powerful flurries (good luck, pal) and fire his own strong, effective combos, then this may be an imperative move in his game plan.
Lemieux doesn’t want to trade punches and put on a technical show, he wants to keep his knockout record intact. Rosado needs to take advantage of this and put him out of his comfort zone by forcing Lemieux to work on his defense game.
3. Keep the Blood Under Control
Photo by AP/Gregory Payan
This isn’t so much a fighting tactic, but more of a behind the ropes action.
Unfortunately for Gabe Rosado, he has a bad history of getting cut above his left eye. There’s been enough fights in his more recent career that have been stopped because of it.
Before the fight gets called though, the cut will only serve as the most beautiful target for Lemieux to aim at. Once the blood starts coming, all a fighter wants is to see more of it. Even if the bout isn’t called, a puffed up eye can severely hinder Rosado’s performance.
There are ways to prevent this from happening. Small tricks like an extra dose of Vaseline on the area, quicker head movements, or, I don’t know, maybe protecting the face might help!
If Rosado avoids the knockout, this factor may be the defining line between a win or loss this Saturday, which could outline the rest of his career.
