By Jim Dower: Former IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux (39-3, 33 KOs) defeated Marcos Reyes (35-5, 26 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision on Saturday night in a tougher than expected match on HBO PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The final judges’ scores were 99-90, 99-90 and 98-91. Boxing News 24 scored the fight 99-90 for Lemieux.
It was hard to give Reyes more than 1 round because he was taking a lot of heavy shots from the much bigger Lemieux all throughout the fight. Reyes was docked a point for hitting after the bell in round 8. In round 2, Reyes suffered a cut on the side of his right eye from a punch. Reyes’ cut bled all throughout the fight.
Reyes was hurt in round 2, 3 and 4 from big shots from Lemieux. It’s incredible that Reyes was able to take the punches that he did because he looked like he was on the verge of being knocked out many times in those rounds.
In the early rounds, it looked as if Lemieux was going to score a knockout at any time, as he was hitting the 29-year-old Reyes with some tremendous head and body shots. Reyes showed a great chin a ton of heart in taking everything that Lemieux could throw.
In round 5, Lemieux started to fade badly, as he looked like the fast pace that he had set had taken everything out of him. Fortunately for Lemieux, Reyes didn’t have the power to go after him to take advantage of his replenished state. Lemieux lost much of the steam off his shots after the midpoint. Reyes realized that he had a chance, and he started to really go after Lemieux, but the power wasn’t there. Reyes was doing too much boxing and not enough punching.
Lemieux got his second wind in round 8, but he still didn’t have the same kind of power that we’d seen from him in the early rounds. The crowds begin to scream, “Reyes. Reyes. Reyes,’ repeatedly, and this got him motivated and more willing to let his hands go.
This was not the great performance from Lemieux that he needed for him to cement a fight against Saul Canelo Alvarez. Lemieux had been rumored to be fighting Canelo in September. It was an unconfirmed rumor. Tonight’s performance from Lemieux was not what the 28-year-old Lemieux needed for him to put himself in a good position to get a fight against Canelo. However, it’s up to Golden Boy Promotions and the boxing fans. If there’s a demand for a Canelo vs. Lemieux fight, then we could see that fight taking place in September.