Aggressive David Lemieux Becoming a Threat to Gennady Golovkin's Meteoric Rise
There are two things fight fans love about aggressive middleweight David Lemieux, and he seems to be keenly aware of both of them. More to the point, both of these characteristics could soon lead Lemieux, a hard-punching, dynamite-fisted marauder from Canada, to becoming the man at long last to provide a real middleweight test to resident 160-pound monster Gennady Golovkin.
Sure, we all want to see Golovkin fight the likes of Canelo Alvarez and Miguel Cotto. But someone will have to fill in Golovkin’s schedule until those fights come to fruition, and it might as well be a fighter as dangerous to Golovkin’s stranglehold on the division as Lemieux might prove.
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But let’s get back to the reasons why fight fans love Lemieux.
“I’m very conscious of what kind of fighter I am,” Lemieux told Bleacher Report. I don’t fight to score points. I go in to dominate, to beat fighters and to be an old-school type of fighter like back in the day.”
Therein lies the first attribute fight fans crave in professional boxers. Lemieux doesn’t climb into a boxing ring to merely win on points. He doesn’t stick and move. For all the brilliance of ace Cubans Guillermo Rigondeaux and Erislandy Lara (and they are quite brilliant at what they do), fans normally won’t pack seats at venues and pay expensive pay-per-view premiums to see someone dance around the ring in a jabbing contest.
Yes, there are exceptions to every rule. Floyd Mayweather has become the highest-paid boxer in all the world with such a style. Honestly, boxing would be better off if more people would appreciate such artful pugilism.
But for the most part, fight fans crave action, and Lemieux is the type to deliver it. He proclaims his style to be that of Mike Tyson and Marvin Hagler, saying instead of being a Mayweather or a Rigondeaux, he’s better suited to be like “the types of fighters who go in and brawl and win and knock people out.”
It’s not hard to root for a guy like that.
Lemieux is a devastating puncher. He throws menacing hooks and uppercuts the way you probably think all middleweights should throw them, and he truly comes into the ring to give people their money’s worth. Lemieux isn’t just a boxer. He’s a fighter.
“I want to destroy people and win the fight. That’s what people want to see. They want to feel that rush, and that’s the way I fight. That’s what I want to give to people. I don’t want to go into the ring and have a simple win. I want them on their feet. I want them to feel emotion.”
But the second thing fight fans love about Lemieux is probably the most important of the two. The 26-year-old from Quebec is the type to want to fight every other middleweight in the world to prove he’s the best.
While it might seem counterintuitive to think all professional prizefighters don’t feel this way, one must only look to the current crop of boxers who claim total sovereignty in their careers yet still somehow consistently manage to avoid facing the best possible competition.
Lemieux wants to be the best. He wants to fight the best. He wants to beat the best. He faces Hassan N'Dam on Saturday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal for the vacant IBF middleweight title, his first crack at a major world championship. And he expects even bigger and better things to follow.
“I’m looking to take one step at a time. But for sure, the middleweight division has always been a very busy division with a lot of great fighters. It’s always been a tough division. There are a lot of good fighters at middleweight, and I’m willing to fight all of them.”
Asked about each of the top middleweights by name, specifically WBO titlist Andy Lee and lineal champion (as well as WBC titleholder) Miguel Cotto, Lemieux seemed downright anxious to jump through the phone line right then and there to fight each one of them in my living room. Thankfully, no one else was present.
He seemed even more ready to go to blows with the undefeated Golovkin, the WBA champion and man considered by most to be the best middleweight in the world today.
“Anybody. Anytime. Anywhere. That’s the motto. I’m not too worried about anybody. I’m very confident in my abilities, and I don’t just say this. I believe it. The world is going to see a lot of great fights with me.”
Lemieux’s last bout was televised on HBO, and if it wasn’t a great one, it was very close to being so. He battered Gabe Rosado and knocked him out in Round 10. This was when American fight fans began to salivate over a possible barnburner between Lemieux and Golovkin. If any two styles are capable of Hagler vs. Hearns-type middleweight magic, it is theirs.
But there’s work to do before then. Lemieux-N'Dam will be on American television on June 20. The bout will be televised live at 10 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 2.
The superbly confident Lemieux promises fireworks then, as well as in all subsequent outings.
“This is what I bring. This is my character. I’m excited, and I do my best to give my best to the fans for their enjoyment. This is my passion, and I enjoy sharing my passion with others.”
I don’t know about you. But I’d like to see Golovkin in tough fight against a middleweight like Lemieux.
Unless otherwise noted, all quotes and information was obtained firsthand.
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