David Lemieux battles Curtis Stevens on March 11

By Boxing News - 01/16/2017 - Comments

Image: David Lemieux battles Curtis Stevens on March 11

By Dan Ambrose: #4 WBC, #4 WBO, #6 IBF middleweight contender David Lemieux (36-3, 32 KOs) will be fighting former world title challenger Curtis Stevens (29-5, 21 KOs) on HBO Boxing After Dark on March 11 at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York. There will be no titles on the line for this fight.

It’s just good match-up between two big sluggers. The winner of the fight will stay in the running for an eventual world title shot against one of the champions. Lemieux, 28, is a former IBF middleweight champion that is co-promoted by Golden Boy Promotions. It’s believed by many boxing fans that Golden Boy is saving Lemieux for an eventual fight against their flagship star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez at some point in the future.

They might wait until Canelo wins a world title at middleweight before they eventually put Lemieux in with him. It’s not really clear yet when Canelo will be able to win a world title at 160. He just passed up on a shot at WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders. Lemieux might need to wait for some time before Canelo can win a title before he’s put in the ring with him. Depending on how the outcome of the Golovkin-Canelo fight goes, it could take years before the Canelo-Lemieux fight gets made.

The Lemieux vs. Stevens fight has a start time at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT. Where to see it is is on HBO Boxing After Dark. The location of the Lemieux vs. Stevens fight is at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.

Lemieux had one fight remaining on his contract with HBO. Lemieux fought only weak opposition in 2016, so HBO waited until he was matched against a good – but hardly great – opponent in 31-year-old Stevens before they opted to televised his fight. Lemieux was stopped by Gennady Golovkin in the 8th round in October 2015. Lemieux came back to win both of his fights in 2016 in defeating junior middleweight Glen Tapia by a 4th round knockout last May, and then Christian Fabian Rios by a 10 round unanimous decision last October. Lemieux looked good against Tapia, but he struggled against Rios and did not impress. Lemieux looked very, very beatable against Rios, showing no improvement whatsoever from his loss to Golovkin.
Lemieux will be defending his NABO middleweight title against Stevens.

Stevens struggled in his last to fight a very average fighter in James De La Rosa in winning a 10 round unanimous decision last November. It looked like it was going to be an easy fight for Stevens after he hurt De La Rosa in the 1st and continued to pound away in the 2nd. However, Stevens suffered a left shoulder problem, and this prevented him to from being able to finish off De La Rosa.

Forced to fight with just his right hand, Stevens labored to a 10 round decision. De La Rosa looked really cocky in the 2nd half of the fight despite him not doing much to show that he had the talent to win. It was definitely not a good performance from Stevens. It did show that he has good boxing skills when he wants to, and he can win without knocking out an opponent. What’s unknown is the condition of Stevens’ left arm. If he’s still dealing with a problem with his shoulder by the time he faces Lemieux, then he’s likely going to lose this fight.

“The time for talking is done, and after many long months of hearing Curtis yell about all the things he’s going to do in the ring, I’m really looking forward to shutting his mouth on March 11,” Lemieux said. “I’ve told everyone my goal is to once again become middleweight champion of the world.”

Lemieux has the youth to win another world title at 160 by sticking around long enough for Golovkin to retire or move up in weight. Lemieux might need to wait a long while before he wins another belt, because if he gets matched up against Golovkin anytime soon, he’ll likely get knocked out against. Lemieux would stand a better chance of targeting the WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders if he wants to win a world title.

If Stevens is healthy at 100 percent, he has a good chance of winning this fight against Lemieux if he can nail the Canadian with one of his big left hooks to the head or body in the early going. Lemieux seems to have a problem taking body shots. Golovkin hurt Lemieux twice in their fight in 2015 with simple body shots. Golovkin didn’t even look like he loaded up with his body shots. He just placed them well on the sides of Lemieux’s midsection, and he had him hurt twice.

If Stevens focuses on punching hard to the body, it’s likely Lemieux will fold quickly on March 11. However, Lemieux has the punching power to stop Stevens quickly as well if he can land one of his big power shots. Lemieux likes to get in close to his opposition in order to throw his hard hooks to the head and body. Stevens has the faster hands, and he might be able to get to Lemieux with one of his hard left hooks in the first two rounds.

Stevens is most dangerous in the first couple of rounds. Lemieux might choose to stay away from him in the early going while he’s still fresh, and then focus on shooting for the knockout in the second half of the fight. Lemieux’s boxing skills are very limited though. If Stevens puts pressure on Lemieux, he should be able to draw him out into a war whether he wants to fight like that or not. Lemieux’s one of those fighters that likes to retaliate when he’s hit hard.

Lemieux vs. Stevens is a true toss-up fight. Both guys have major flaws in their games, and both can be hurt. I think Stevens has the better punch resistance of the two, and definitely the better stamina. Lemieux fades badly when he’s forced to fight hard for more than six rounds.