By Allan Fox: Gabriel Rosado says he wants Golden Boy Promotions to give him a rematch with former IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux. Rosado, 31, says he had an eye injury in round 3 of their fight on December 6, 2014, and that kept him from fighting at the level that he could have. Lemieux ended up stopping Rosado in the 10th round of that fight.
The 31-year-old Rosado (24-11, 14 KOs) could really use a good win over someone like Lemieux right now, as he’s lost 2 out of his last 5 fights. Rosado’s career is not going well right now, and neither is Lemieux’s. He was just beaten by WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders by a 12 round unanimous decision on December 16 on HBO Championship Boxing at the Place Bell in Laval, Quebec, Canada. It was a dreadful performance by Lemieux.
”I’d like a rematch VS @lemieuxboxing. 3rd In our fight I suffered a broken orbital bone and went blind, and I still managed to give him a hell of a fight. Golden Boy Boxing feed me Lemieux! #TimeToEat,” said Rosado.
It wouldn’t be surprising if Golden Boy Promotions takes Rosado up on his offer to face the 29-year-old Lemieux (38-4, 33 KOs). They need to put Lemieux in with someone to get his confidence back. Rosado would be perfect for Lemieux. Rosado isn’t the type to try and out-box Lemieux the way that Saunders (26-0, 12 KOs) did. The only guys that Lemieux has had problems with in the last 3 years of his career are fighters that boxed him from the outside.
Gennady Golovkin beat Lemieux by an 8th round knockout on October 17, 2015. GGG mainly stood on the outside and jabbed Lemieux in that fight. Lemieux’s loss to Joachim Alcine was the same type of situation with him getting boxed for 12 rounds. Marcos Antonio Rubio covered for 6 rounds and let Lemieux unload on him until he was tired in their fight in 2011. Once Lemieux was exhausted, Rubio started nailing him with heavy shots until the referee stopped the fight in the 7th.
Rosado was recently beaten by Martin Murray and Willie Monroe Jr. in back to back fights in 2016 and 2017. However, Rosado fought well enough to deserve a win over Murray, but the fight took place in the UK. Rosado came back from that loss to defeat Glen Tapia by a 6th round knockout on October 19 of last year.
Rosado and Lemieux are both in need of a victory to keep their careers alive. Lemieux has more potential to make money due to his huge power, and his popularity in Canada. Golden Boy might want to be careful with Lemieux that they don’t destroy his confidence by matching him too tough after his loss to Saunders. Under normal circumstances, I think Golden Boy Promotions would have no problems matching Lemieux against Rosado.
Lemieux already proved once that he could beat Rosado. Why not put the two back in with each other? But the loss for Lemieux against Saunders was bad. I think Lemieux is going to need an easy opponent for his next fight to get his confidence back. Rosado used a lot of movement in his fight with Golovkin in 2013. I don’t know if Rosado could be trusted to be a stationary target for Rosado to beat up on in their rematch. I think that’s what Golden Boy will want for Lemieux. They’ll want someone that will stand there and be a target for Lemieux’s shots. Rosado would likely follow the blueprint that Saunders created to beat Lemieux by using movement.