By Allan Fox: Former WBO middleweight champion Hassan N’Dam (31-1, 18 KOs) had better be ready to slug it out on Saturday night because #4 IBF David Lemieux (33-2, 31 KOs) is planning on bringing the heat when he gets in the ring with the 31-year-old N’Dam at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.
N’Dam and Lemieux will be fighting for the vacant IBF middleweight title at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. Lemieux says he’s going to be gunning for a knockout against N’Dam and he hopes to get him out of there as fast as possible.
Lemieux will need to cut off the ring against N’Dam like he’s done with his other recent opponents like Gabriel Rosado. N’Dam moves frequently and he rarely stands and trades when he’s fighting a guy with big punching power.
In N’Dam’s last fight against Curtis Stevens, he was able to use his four inch height advantage to hurt Stevens and pound out a decision. But against the 5’9” Lemieux, N’Dam will need to use a lot more movement for him to keep from getting knocked out because he doesn’t have the punching power to stand in the pocket with him for long.
“’Seek and Destroy’ is pretty much the philosophy of my fighting style,” Lemieux said to ESPN.com. “I don’t go in there just to win on points. I go in there to dominate, and whatever round I can take him out, I will take him out. I’m there to give a great show, and I’m there to give my fighters a lesson to not want to be in the ring with me.”
Lemieux has picked the guy that gives him the best possible chance to win a world title. If Lemieux were facing the likes of Gennady Golovkin, Andy Lee or Daniel Jacobs, it would be a lot tougher fight for him because those guys all have punching power to go along with their boxing skills. They’re not like N’Dam, who is totally reliant on his boxing skills for him to get his victories.
“Each fight goes on, my strength goes up, and it’s just more pain for them,” Lemieux said. “On [Saturday] it’s going to be another eye-opening fight for fans who think they have seen me. There’s plenty more to see in the upcoming weeks.”
Lemieux hasn’t fought anyone with N’Dam’s skills, and it’s going to be a good test to see if he’s ready for this kind of fighter. In the past, Lemieux failed when he stepped up against Joachim Alcine and Marco Antonio Rubio. Both guys beat Lemieux in 2011. Lemieux wasn’t ready for that caliber of a fighter at the time, but he’s improved a lot since then and won his last eight fights. His last two fights he’s beaten Rosado and Fernando Guerrero.
Those are good fighters but not quite at the same level as N’Dam. Lenieux will need to apply a lot of pressure if he wants to get N’Dam out of there because he’s obviously been training to try and elude Lemieux for 12 rounds to pound out a decision win.
Comments are closed.