Was Lemieux exposed as a four round fighter by Rubio?

By Boxing News - 04/09/2011 - Comments

Image: Was Lemieux exposed as a four round fighter by Rubio?By Dan Ambrose: Last night number #2 ranked WBC middleweight contender David Lemieux (25-1, 24 KO’s) was taken out in the 7th round by veteran slugger Marco Antonio Rubio (50-5-1, 43 KO’s) in a shocking upset in Montreal, Canada. Most people thought that the 22-year-old Lemieux would steamroll over the 30-year-old Rubio with the same ease with which Lemieux destroyed most of his soft opposition.

What we saw instead was Lemieux flailing his big power punches all night either hitting air or the gloves or Rubio before tiring after the 4th round. Lemieux began to start to fade in the 5th when Rubio was able to connect with some nice right hands to the reddening face of Lemieux. The Canadian fighter looked red from exhaustion more than from the shots he was periodically getting hit with. By the time the 6th rolled around, Lemieux seemed desperate, as he was clearly tired and his legs looked rubbery.

None of this escaped Rubio’s attention. He went on the attack mode in the 6th and badly hurt Lemieux with a big right hand that connected high on Lemieux’s head late in the round. I knew the fight wouldn’t go much longer after that punch landed because Lemieux’s legs were gone and he was hurt. Sure enough, Lemieux was dropped by Rubio in the next round and then taken out with a storm of punches after Lemieux got back to his feet.

One can’t help but notice that Lemieux’s previous fights have mostly been short fights where he’s knocked his C level opposition out within the first three rounds. Only rarely has one of his opponents gone past the 4th. Lemieux looked gassed against Rubio once the fight went past the 4th. I don’t know that Lemieux’s stamina will change in the future, because young fighters like Lemieux should have excellent stamina at 22. It only gets worse after this. We may be looking at a fighter that will be basically a 4-round fighter for the rest of his career.

Lemieux could be one of those fighters that will do well if he can you out of there in the first four rounds but after that he will be vulnerable to getting knocked out or outpointed. He’s like a shorter, flawed version of George Foreman, only without the excellent skills that Foreman had going for him. Foreman had a great jab that he could dominate his opponents with, and an excellent uppercut. Lemieux has none of those things. Foreman was also tall for a heavyweight at 6’4.” Lemieux looks to be only 5’8″ rather than his listed height of 5’10 1/2″. He won’t be able to dominate middleweights with his size like Foreman did at heavyweight. I think we might have a small career-long four round fighter in Lemieux. It’s too bad, because so many people thought he was going to be a good one.



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