All photos by Vincent Ethier/Eye of the Tiger Management
On Saturday, March 11, 2017 at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York David Lemieux scored a brutal one-punch knockout against Curtis Stevens.
This stunning finish will likely make it a candidate for 2017’s Knockout of the Year.
The scheduled 10-round bout ended abruptly in Round 3 when Lemieux pressured Stevens against the ropes and landed a mean left hook to the jaw.
Even though Lemieux vs. Stevens was expected to be an exciting bout considering they are two of the heaviest hitters in the Middleweight division, few could have predicted it would end so suddenly and violently.
After Stevens hit the canvas, referee Charlie Fitch called an immediate halt to the fight at the 1:59 mark in the third round.
At the beginning of the third, it looked as if Stevens was rallying. Stevens came on strong–using his jab to move forward while throwing left hooks to the body and straight rights to the head of Lemieux. Stevens even momentarily hurt Lemieux with a body shot that backed him up.
Though it looked as if the round was going in Stevens’ favor, the tables turned when Lemieux began applying pressure. Lemieux’s killer instinct turned on as he forced Stevens against the ropes, landing a right to the head of Stevens and knocking him unconscious with the fight-ending left hook.
“I told you what I was going to do, and I did it,” said Lemieux after scoring another knockout and improving his record to 37-3, 33 KOs.
Leading up to this fight, Lemieux talked a lot about his animosity towards Stevens and Saturday night he backed it up, proving that he is a top contender in the Middleweight division. Now that Lemieux has regained everyone’s attention–what’s next for David Lemieux?
A fight with Billy Joe Saunders, the WBO Middleweight titleholder would make for a great matchup. Lemieux has won three straight fights since losing via TKO to Gennady Golovkin in October of 2015, helping his argument that he deserves another title shot.
Saunders is currently undefeated with a record of 24-0 with 12 knockouts and a fight against Saunders would be a huge test for Lemieux. Stylistically this would make for an interesting matchup–Lemieux easily has more power but Saunders has an impeccable defensive game.
Another potential opponent would be fellow Golden Boy Promotions fighter Canelo Alvarez. This would likely be an extremely competitive bout. Alvarez has a scheduled fight on Cinco de Mayo weekend against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., but a showdown with Lemieux after his May fight would make sense for both fighters.
The Middleweight division is one of the most competitive divisions in the sport right now and Lemieux has proven he is back and stronger than ever.
Fingers crossed one of these potential matchups becomes a reality as Lemieux works to put himself in the position to earn another shot at the kingpin, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin.
