By Dan Ambrose: David Lemieux (35-3, 32 KOs) is preparing hard for his likely mismatch against little known Christian Fabian Rios (21-7-3, 6 KOs) on October 22 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. This will be the 27-year-old Lemieux’s second straight showcase fight since his 8th round knockout loss to Gennady “GGG” Golovkin last year in October 2015.
Lemieux talked a lot in the build up to that fight, but he didn’t have the talent to hang with Golovkin. Lemieux lost his IBF middleweight title in the Golovkin fight. However, Lemieux is still ranked high at 160 by the #4 WBC, #4 WBO. He’s within striking distance of another title shot, but not against Golovkin.
Lemieux’s promoters at Eye of the Tiger Management and Golden Boy Promotions are likely going to take it easy with him until he builds himself back up for a likely pay-per-view fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez if he can get his hands on a title. The only way Canelo wins a title at 160 is if he beats WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders before Golovkin gets to him. That should be easy for Golden Boy to do. They can just throw some money at Saunders, and I think he’ll take the fight and forget about Golovkin permanently.
“I’m taking this fight very seriously, as if it were a world championship fight,” said Lemieux. “My team and I are working hard to make sure that there won’t be any surprises on October 22nd. Rios is a tough opponent with very good boxing skills. I’m ready for this challenge and I can guarantee that he will never be hit as hard as he will be at the Bell Centre. On October 22nd, expect fireworks because you’ll see David Lemieux at his finest!”
This is a joke, seriously. Rios is a not a tough opponent for Lemieux. You can argue that the 33-year-old Rios is a huge step down from Lemieux’s last over-matched opponent in Glen Tapia. I rate Tapia as a far better fighter than Rios. What is unclear is why Lemieux’s promoters have decided to move him backwards even more after his loss to Golovkin rather than slowly building him up.
I don’t think it’s going to help Lemieux if his promoters stick him on a diet of fodder for years and years like they did after his back to back losses to Joachim Alcine and Marco Antonio Rubio in 2011. Lemieux fought weak opponents for two years before he was able to win the vacant International Boxing Federation title in 2015 in beating Hassan N’Dam by a 12 round decision.
Lemieux was fortunate that he only had to fight N’Dam for the IBF title rather than Golovkin or Tureano Johnson, who is currently rated No.1 by the IBF. The middleweight division has improved a great deal since Lemieux was the IBF belt holder, and I don’t see him capable of winning another title or even beating the top contenders. I think Tureano Johnson, Ryota Murata and Chris Eubank Jr. all beat Lemieux.
“I was anxious to be home and compete at the Bell Centre, in front of my fan,” said Lemieux. “It’s important for me to give them a show that will live up to their expectations. I’m convinced that their evening will not disappoint them because the undercard is also very exciting.”
The Lemieux vs. Rios fight is scheduled for 10 rounds. Rios previously lost to Tommy Langford, Billi Facundo Godoy x 2, Guido Nicholas Pitto, Richard Vidal, and Matias Ezequiel Franco x 2. Rios also has three draws on his resume. One of Rios’ draws came against #1 WBC middleweight contender Jorge Sebastian Heiland. That still doesn’t mean a whole lot because Heiland has an inflated ranking in the eyes of a lot of boxing fans, so it’s not as if it’s a big deal that Rios fought to a draw against him.
Lemieux has a lot of improvement he needs to make in his game before he’s ready to compete against the best in the division. I’m not even talking about Golovkin. Lemieux needs to improve considerably before he fights guys like Tureano Johnson, Chris Eubank Jr., and Billy Joe Saunders. I don’t see him being able to defeat any of those guys right now, because he doesn’t have the boxing skills. Lemieux struggles when he steps up a level. If Golden Boy could put Lemieux in with Saunders right now, he might get lucky and win. I doubt it though. Saunders would likely box Lemieux’s head off.