By Jim Dower: Former IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux (39-4, 33 KOs) kept his career alive on Saturday night in defeating little known Karim Achour (26-5-3, 4 KOs) in beating him by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision at the Centre Videotron in Quebec City.
There were no knockdowns in the fight, and surprisingly Lemieux was unable to hurt the 31-year-old Achour during the course of the 12 round fight. However, Lemieux had worn himself out attempting to make weight last Friday at the weigh-in, and it’s possible that he weakened himself in the process. Lemieux weighed in 162 pounds, which was 2 lbs. over the contract weight.
Due to Lemieux coming in overweight, he was unable to capture Achour’s WBC International and Francophone middleweight straps. Those titles are now vacant. Achour has never been knocked out before, so it’s not astonishing that he was able to take the 29-year-old Lemieux’s best power shots and make it to the final bell.
The judge’s scores were 119-108, 120-107 and 119-107.
5’9 ½” Lemieux used his jab frequently during the fight to keep the 5’8” Achour on the outside. One reason that Lemieux was able to have success with his jab is because of the limited height and reach of Achour. When Lemieux has fought taller fighters with a longer reach, he’s been forced to take the fight to them to land his power shots because he doesn’t have the reach to stay on the outside and jab like he was doing against Achour all night. Lemieux wore down a little in the second half of the fight, but he was still able to control Achour. The loss of energy in the second part of the fight can be attributed to Lemieux’s attempts at making weight last Friday.
With little to worry about in terms of power from the light-hitting Achour, Lemieux took the fight to him, hitting him whatever he wanted to. It was a rare night of total domination for Lemieux, who landed at will against Achour. Of course, Lemieux wasn’t facing a top tier middleweight. Achour is a 2nd tier fighter and a not a top world class contender. This fight was a confidence booster affair for Lemieux to help bring him back after his 12 round unanimous decision loss to WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders last December.
Lemieux’s next move for his career could possibly see him fight at 168. It’s still undecided. If Lemieux can somehow find a way to continue to fight at 160, he will. It’s important that Lemieux try and stay at middleweight, because there’s a lucrative fight out there for him against Saul Canelo Alvarez if he can stay in the weight class. If Lemieux moves up to super middleweight, then a fight against Canelo becomes less likely. Lemieux’s height and reach could be a problem for him fighting the taller super middleweights, which is another reason why it’s important for him to stay at 160.
In other boxing result on the card:
Custio Clayton UD 12 Stephen Danyo
Batyrzhan Jukembayev TKO 7 Jonathan Jose Eniz
Erik Bazinyan TKO 3 Alejandro Gustavo Falliga
Andranik Grigoryan UD 6 Jesus Amparan