By Dan Ambrose: #2 WBC, #5 IBF, #8 WBO middleweight contender David Lemieux (33-2, 31 KOs) did his part last Saturday in stopping the always tough Gabriel Rosado (21-9, 13 KOs) in the 10th round of a back and forth fight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Referee Steve Willis halted the fight with Rosado, 28, still on his feet and fighting back in the 10th. You can make a strong argument that the fight deserved to continue on because Rosado was definitely still fighting back at the time of the stoppage. But ignoring the controversial ending, Lemieux said he’s open to fighting Gennady Golovkin, Miguel Cotto and Peter Quillin. Lemieux specifically said that he’s not afraid to fight Golovkin, and that he only wants to fight the best.
“I’m ready to fight anybody at 160,” Lemieux said after the fight. Gennady Golovkin, Quillin, Cotto – I’m not afraid to fight anybody. I’m ready to fight anybody. Gennady Golovkin, I’m not afraid of him.”
It really doesn’t matter if Lemieux is afraid of Golovkin. He can be totally unafraid of fighting him, but it’s still going to be a major ask for Lemieux to be able to compete against him. With the way that Lemieux looked last night against Rosado, I believe that Golovkin will take Lemieux apart in 3-6 rounds.
It might be one of Golovkin’s easier fights due to Lemieux not having any defensive skills, and not making any adjustments on the power on his shots. Golovkin eats up limited power punchers, and I believe this would be a very simple fight for him if it gets made.
It’s unclear if Lemieux’s management are serious about wanting to match him against Golovkin. Lemieux mentioned specifically that he’s interested in Cotto and Quillin as well, and that tells me that he might prefer to get in the ring with one of them rather than facing Golovkin and getting torn apart by him in a quick knockout loss.
At this point, I think Marco Antonio Rubio would knock Lemieux out again if the two of them were to square off. Rubio has heavy hands, and he’s be able to take Lemieux’s power shots for 6-7 rounds like he did in 2011, and then come on and knock him out in the 8th or 9th. I’d rather see Lemieux prove himself against Rubio before the facing Golovkin. That way the boxing public’s time wouldn’t be wasted in having to see another unproven fighter get destroyed by Golovkin.
It’s nice that Lemieux knocked out Rosado, but the win didn’t prove anything because Rosado isn’t ranked in the top 15 at 160, and he was easily beaten by Jermell Charlo, Golovkin, Quillin and Alfredo Angulo in the past. If Lemieux wants to prove himself, he should go backwards and try and avenge his loss to Rubio before the public’s time is wasted by having Lemieux get exposed by Golovkin.
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