By Allan Fox: Former WBO middleweight champion Hassan N’Dam (31-1, 18 KOs) isn’t worried about the punching power of #4 IBF David Lemieux (33-2, 31 KOs) in their fight this Saturday at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.
N’Dam, 31, says he’s been in the ring with bigger punchers than Lemieux in the past, and he feels like he’ll have little problems in beating the 5’9” Lemieux in front of his own fans.
Lemieux, with his huge punching power, has a very good chance of knocking N’Dam out on Saturday. It’s too bad the fight didn’t get picked up by HBO because it’s a very good one. Lemieux has one of the most exciting fighting styles in the middleweight division, and there’s not many fighters that can stand up to his power.
N’Dam is going to have to run for him to be able to make it out of the early rounds, which is when Lemieux is at his most dangerous. But Lemieux’s stamina has improved dramatically since his defeats to Joachim Alcine and Marco Antonio Rubio in 2011, and he very well could stop N’Dam in the later rounds if it comes to that.
“I have fought better punchers than him [Lemieux] and I have the ability to fight any kind of style and I will adapt to his style and beat him at his own game,” N’Dam said to RingTV.com.
In the past, N’Dam has fought the likes of Curtis Stevens, Pete Quillin, Avtandil Khurtsidze and Giovanni Lorenzo at the pro level. Those guys all punch hard. At the amateur level, N’Dam fought Andy Lee and Gaydarbek Gaydarbekov.
Lemieux has punching power comparable to Quillin, but he’s a lot more willing to throw his power shots than Quillin. In Quillin’s fights, he doesn’t throw a lot of punches and this allows his opposition to stay in the fights a lot longer. With Lemieux, he’s looking to knockout his opposition straightaway and he doesn’t waste time. He’s fearless.
This is N’Dam’s big chance to win the IBF middleweight crown now that Jermain Taylor is no longer holding the belt. Taylor would have been a really tough fight for N’Dam due to Taylor’s ability to both punch and box. That would have been a fight that N’Dam would have had to stand and trade shots in because Taylor has a better jab, and he’s good at staying on the outside and boxing his opponents.
The N’Dam vs. Lemieux fight will be televised on Fox Sports 2 and Fox Deportes.
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