By Eric Thomas: Highly hyped middleweight contender David Lemieux (25-1, 24 KO’s) was blasted out by #3 WBC middleweight contender Marco Antonio Rubio (50-5-1, 43 Ko’s) last Friday night in a 7th round TKO loss for Lemieux. It looked like Lemieux didn’t have the size or the stamina to go past the 6th round against a bigger and more experienced fighter in the 30-year-old Rubio. Interestingly enough, Lemieux’s trainer Russ Anber had a spin on why he halted the fight in the 7th, saying in an article at the ottawacitizen.com, “I just didn’t want him [Lemieux] to be a target for the next six rounds, so I stopped it.”

At the time that Anber stopped the fight in the 7th, Lemieux had just been knocked down and was really getting hammered by Rubio against the ropes. There was little chance that Lemieux was going to make it out of the round without going down again, because his legs were gone and he was badly hurt. Indeed, as soon as the referee stopped the fight, Lemieux staggered on his feet and looked unsteady. If his trainer Anber thought that Lemieux could have gone another six rounds with the punishment he was starting to take from Rubio then he’s really kidding himself. Lemieux was finished and seemingly on the verge of going down again. It would have taken a minor miracle for him to get his second wind and come back from this point. He was simply in bad shape physically.

Lemieux started the fight fast, tagging Rubio with some big shots in the first five rounds. It looked like Lemieux was trying to take Rubio fast the way that Lemieux had been knocking out the C level fighters that he’d been served up in his first 25 fights. Rubio remained calm, picking off most of Lemieux’s power shots and taking the few that would leak in every once in awhile. Rubio looked in charge even when he was taking shots. It’s like he knew that Lemiuex couldn’t keep up his fast pace for long. Sure enough, Lemieux began fading in the 6th, his face reddening and his breathing labored.

Rubio then hurt Lemieux with a big right hand in the last minute of the 6th and had him looking unsteady as the round ended. Anber attempted to give Lemieux advice in between rounds. However, Lemieux looked too gassed and hurt for the advice to be much help to him. Lemieux seemed to have things back in order at the start of the 7th as he jabbed Rubio and avoiding exchanging power shots. However, Rubio then caught Lemieux with a big right hand that sent Lemieux to the ropes where he looked hurt. The fight ended shortly after that with Lemieux getting pounded by Rubio.

Rubio said “I didn’t feel hurt…He’s a good fighter and hits hard, but he never connected 100 per cent. Only in the first round was I hurt from a shot to the kidneys.”