By Dan Ambrose: IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs) has a reputation of starting quickly in his fights and going out looking for fast knockouts. With his big power in either hand, Lemieux frequently is able to score early knockouts or knockdowns in his fights.
Abel Sanchez, the trainer for WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs), suspects that Lemieux will be told to take it easy and not try and slug with Golovkin early on when they face each other on October 17th on HBO pay-per-view at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Sanchez thinks that Lemieux’s trainer and management will impress upon him the importance of being careful in the ring against Golovkin, and not treating him like he’s one of Lemieux’s typical opponents he’s faced in the last four years.
“No, I believe Lemieux has a good group around him,” Sanchez said via RingTV.com. “They will remind him of the things he must do…and what he must not do.”
If Lemieux loses himself and forgets who he’s in the ring with on October 17th, he could wind up getting knocked out in the first few rounds. Lemieux has to realize that the guys his promoters have been putting him in with since he turned pro have largely been weak opposition with chin problems and marginal talent. When Lemieux has been stepped up a level in fights against Marco Antonio Rubio and Joachim Alcine, he lost.
Lemieux would have lost his last fight against Hassan N’Dam if he hadn’t been able to knock him down four times. Even with all those knockdowns, Lemieux still only won by the scores of 115-110. When you see a fight scored that closely after four knockdowns, it tells you that he was getting out-boxed a lot.
Lemieux is too much of a slugger for his own good, and he’s going to have problems if he comes after Golovkin like he’s done with his other opposition. If Lemieux doesn’t learn some self-control during training camp for this fight, he’s going to learn a painful lesson when he gets inside the ring with Golovkin.
Golovkin is in a position where he’s got the perfect opponent for him to make a great impression on the boxing fans in America. Lemieux only knows how to fight one way and that’s by coming straight at his opponents looking to slug. Lemieux isn’t a mobile fighter, and even if he tries to move around the ring, he’s not going to be able to do it.
Lemieux is too sluggish on his feet, and if he’s forced to move laterally around the ring to try and escape Golovkin’s punishing blows, he’ll run out of gas. Lemieux was running out of gas in his last fight against Hassan N’Dam just by chasing after him. N’Dam then went from the runner to the attack in the 2nd half of the fight and ended up dominating the action in rounds 8 through 12. Lemieux showed in that fight that he still has major stamina problems that needs addressing before he faces Golovkin in October.
“Can Lemieux take it? That’s what makes the fight interesting and a good pay-per-view buy. Superstars are born and developed from risk-takers,” Sanchez said. “If you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen. He’s a very good challenger because he has delivered of late,” Sanchez said. “It’s an interesting match-up; he’s a decent puncher, throws a little wide, is strong and willing and that’s a good combination for explosive results.”
What looks bad about the Golovkin-Lemieux fight is the fact that Lemieux folded up in 7 rounds in losing to Marco Antonio Rubio in their fight in 2011. This is the same fighter that Golovkin recently destroyed in just 2 rounds. It stands to reason that if Lemieux couldn’t beat Rubio, then he’s going to be lost when he gets inside the ring with Golovkin. I still think Rubio would have a good chance of wearing Lemieux down and knocking him out again if they were to face each other in a rematch.
It’s interesting that Lemieux’s management never even attempted to have Lemieux try and avenge his losses to Rubio and Alcine. They instead had Lemieux go in another direction and take on tune-up fights for 4 years. It wasn’t until recently where they put him in with N’Dam where they finally matched Lemieux against a good opponent, albeit one with a major chin problem. N’Dam was knocked down 6 times by Peter Quillin in their fight in 2012.
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