By Dan Ambrose: On June 20th, #1 IBF Hassan N’Dam (31-1, 18 KOs) and #4 IBF David Lemieux (33-2, 31 KOs) will battle it out for Jermain Taylor’s vacant International Boxing Federation 160 pound title at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.
The fight is official as of today. Lemieux, 26, will have an advantage in that the fight will be taking place in his own hometown of Montreal. The Lemieux-N’Dam fight will likely be televised on HBO.
It’s still not a done deal as of yet that it will be televised by that network, according to ESPN.
Lemieux’s promoters at Golden Boy won the recent purse bid for the fight last April with a winning bid of $102,000. Because of that the fight will take place in Montreal.
This is a considerable step up for Lemieux from the guys that he’s been facing during his short career. His recent victory over Gabriel Rosado was his toughest fight of his career. N’Dam is considerably better than Rosado, and a much more difficult style match-up for Lemieux.
That’s not to say that Lemieux can’t win this fight, but he’s going to need to score a knockout or a number of knockdowns to get the win. If Lemieux is unable to KO N’Dam or put him down on the canvas at least three times, I think he’s going to lose this fight like he did in his defeats against Marco Antonio Rubio and Joachim Alcine.
“David Lemieux versus Hassan N’Dam will be an action-packed fight the fans in Montreal will be excited to see on June 20,” Oscar De La Hoya, the President of Golden Boy Promotions said via Dan Rafael of ESPN.com. “Hassan and David are both elite fighters in the middleweight division with fighting styles that will keep fans on the edge of their seats. This is just the kind of fight boxing needs to have. The fans want action in the ring and both David and Hassan are sure to deliver that.”
This fight will be action packed as long as it lasts. De La Hoya is correct about that. I’m just not so sure that it’s going to go too well for Lemieux. If he can’t get a knockout, he’s going to have a lot of problems with N’Dam’s hand speed and mobility. He’s not easy to hit because of his movement, and he doesn’t let you hit him with head shots. N’Dam’s recent win over Curtis Stevens was an impressive one, as he made it look easy in pounding out a decision win.
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