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The name David Lemieux has been steadily on the rise, and after plowing through 2014 against the likes of Fernando Guerrero and Gabriel Rosado, he deserves it.
After losing to both Marco Antonio Rubio and Joachim Alcine, Lemieux made a dramatic comeback with an eight-fight winning streak. Out of all eight, only one ended in a unanimous decision.
The Canadian broke onto American ground this past December, beating Rosado in the 10th round, proving himself to be worthy of fighting bigger names. Here’s a quick look at some guys that Lemieux should have his eye on in 2015.
Andy Lee
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Andy Lee has a great professional record (34-2, 24 KOs), but he also has only two fights in his professional career that was scheduled to last 12 rounds.
With that being said, he’s tall, and he’s a southpaw–which is a great recipe for a fun boxer.
What’s also fun about the Irishman is that he’s not a flawless fighter. In his knockout victory against John Jackson, Lee’s trainer, Adam Booth admitted that he didn’t have enough head movement in the early rounds. While small flaws like this are easy to fix, they’re also easy to attack.
A fight against Lee could be a good win for Lemieux to grab. If Lemieux could take the bout to the later rounds and work his power the same way he did with Rosado, I foresee this being a good turnout him.
Gennady Golovkin
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Sure, the Kazakh is 31-0 with 28 knockouts, but Lemieux would be an idiot for not wanting to put his name next to GGG’s. It’s not like Golovkin is too picky with his opponents, either. At this point, the undefeated boxer is still interested in finding guys to keep his record alive and kicking.
The problem with GGG is that he’s a professional knockout fighter. His opponents either think they can outpunch him before they expose themselves and get knocked out, or they play defense and last a few rounds–before they get knocked out.
Lemieux has proven that he can be a hard hitter, but are we banking on him knocking out GGG here? Not even close. The Canadian’s best bet in this set up would be to survive and look talented against the Kazakh machine in order to gain more publicity and respect for future bouts.
Miguel Cotto
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It would be interesting to have these two put in a ring together, since a lot of people are wondering if Floyd Mayweather is a better fit for Miguel Cotto this year.
Cotto, who is currently the lineal Middleweight champion, would be a tough fight for Lemieux.
What’s fun about this matchup, though, is that Cotto has a tendency to make fights last a little longer. Lemieux is beginning to build some recognition for maintaining stamina, so it would be nice to see him put it to the test against the Puerto Rican.
Cotto owes half of his losses to Floyd Mayweather and Austin Trout in a recent losing streak, and is working his positive stride back. If a Mayweather rematch doesn’t occur in 2015, Cotto could be quick to schedule a date with David to keep his consecutive win record going, which in turn gives Lemieux an opportunity for a career-defining upset.
