By Jeff Aranow: David Lemieux (38-3, 33 KOs) has confirmed his next fight will be on December 2, and there’s the possibly could be against Miguel Cotto (41-5, 33 KOs) on HBO World Championship Boxing in New York. Both guys have been mentioned fighting on the December 2 card.
It’s up to Cotto whether he wants to face the 28-year-old former IBF middleweight champion Lemieux or not.
“Waiting impatiently to receive some news on my next fight, which should be December 2nd. Excited and ready,” said Lemieux on his social media site.
Putting together a fight between Lemieux and Cotto could be tricky. Cotto has used catch-weights in 3 out of his last 4 fights. It’s difficult not to imagine Cotto not insisting on a catch-weight for a fight against Lemieux to take place. Lemieux has a tough time as it is just making 160. If Cotto asks Lemieux to boil down to 155 to fight him at a catch-weight for the December 2 card, which could be enough for him to beat the Canadian fighter without too many problems.
Lemieux is someone that arguably should be fighting at super middleweight at this point in his career. He’s very heavy for the 160-lb. division. If Lemieux had to melt down to 155 or even 157, it might be too hard for him to make that weight without weakening himself considerably.
Lemieux has been out of the ring since his 10 round unanimous decision victory over Marcos Reyes on May 6. It was a fun fight to watch. Lemieux hit Reyes with everything he had, and the Mexican fighter stood up to it and landed some nice shots in return. Lemieux won by a one-sided set of scores of 99-90, 99-90 and 98-91.
This is supposedly 36-year-old Cotto’s retirement fight, but you know how that goes. Golden Boy Promotions would like it for Cotto to face Lemieux, and then the winner of that contest battle Saul Canelo Alvarez in 2018. Cotto would have to stick around for another year for that scenario to play out.
Just beating Lemieux will be hard enough for Cotto. It’s a very tough fight for the small 5’7” Cotto, who hasn’t beaten a quality fighter for some time. Cotto’s last win over a good fighter that wasn’t old or injured was back in 2009 when he beat Joshua Clottey a close and somewhat controversial 12 round split decision. Cotto’s victories since that fight have come against beat older fighters or guys with injury problems like Antonio Margarito [eye problem], Sergio Martinez [leg problem], Yuri Foreman [leg problem] Daniel Geale [no longer in prime], Antonio Margarito [no longer in prime], Delvin Rodriguez [no longer in prime], Richardo Mayorga [old and not in prime] and Yoshihiro Kamegai.
Cotto won the vacant WBO junior middleweight title beating Kamegai. Oddly enough, the WBO had Erickson Lubin ranked below Kamegai in their rankings at the time. Cotto vs. Lubin for the vacant WBO junior middleweight title would have been a very tough fight for the Puerto Rican star. I’m not sure Cotto would have beaten a young lion like Lubin. It’s fortunate for Cotto that the WBO ranked Kamegai so highly.
There’s no word about who Lemieux’s other options are opponent-wise for his December 2 fight. Lemieux is rated No.1 by the World Boxing Organization now. WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders plans on fighting in December, albeit at the Copper Box Arena in London, England. The only way Saunders would fight Lemieux in December is if the WBO ordered the fight, and thus far they haven’t. It’s too bad. It would be a great fight for Lemieux to face Saunders, who hasn’t looked good in his last 2 fights since winning his WBO title in 2015. Lemieux would likely walk through Saunders as if he wasn’t there.