Lemieux vs. Rubio on 4/8: This will be a huge test for David

By Jim Dower: The hard hitting unbeaten middleweight contender David Lemieux (25-0, 24 KO’s) takes on number #3 ranked WBC contender Marco Antonio Rubio (49-5-1, 42 KO’s) on April 8th in a WBC middleweight title eliminator bout at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, Canada.

Lemieux, 22, faces a much more experienced fighter in the 30-year-old Rubio and someone that hits a lot harder than the guys that Lemieux has been facing up until now. However, Lemieux has proven again and again that his huge power is more than enough to make up for what he lacks in experience.

Hopefully, Lemieux’s power can get him through this fight because Rubio is a big test for him.

Lemieux is going to be giving up an incredible six inches in reach against Rubio. Although Lemieux is listed as being 5’10 ½”, he looks closer to 5’8”, and there’s no getting around the fact that his arms are short compared to the typical middleweight.

Lemieux is someone that needs to get in really close to land his power shots. This means that he’s going to need to walk through a certain amount of shots from Rubio on April 8th in order to land his own shots. One factor that Lemieux has in his favor in this fight is that Rubio, ranked #3 by the WBC, tends to get in close when throwing his shots. This is something that will make it much easier for Lemieux to land his power shots.

You can bet that Rubio and his trainer have been working on using his reach to box the shorter-armed Lemieux on the outside for this fight. It remains to be seen whether Rubio will be able to stick to a disciplined fight. It’s going to be difficult for Rubio, a slugger, to avoid what comes natural for him. He’s likely to revert back to his slugging roll after a couple of rounds.

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