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Cloutier’s Canada Corner
David Lemieux: "I
Promise My Fans To Leave
The Bell Place With The WBO Belt In My Hand"
Dominic Ingle: "Billy
Joe Saunders Will Return To England With The WBO Belt In Our
Luggage"
By Daniel Cloutier
MONTRÉAL — When the sports photographers asked to David
Lemieux and Billy Joe Saunders to be nose to nose for
pictures Thursday afternoon at the Sheraton Hotel in Laval,
the two fighters looked like…. starving enemies pit bulls!
Thursday, was the final press conference of this boxing show
presented Saturday evening at new Bell Place in Laval. Laval
is the most important Montréal northern suburb.
Former IBF middleweight champion of the world, Lemieux
(38-3-0) will try to dethrone Saunders (25-0-0), a British,
as WBO middleweight champion of the world.
“Our matchup is creating an incredible interest in the
Montreal area, and this situation is increasing
substantially my motivation at two days of the event,” said
Lemieux. “I got a marvelous training camp since two months,
then, and I could not be more ready for this challenge. I am
promising one thing to my fans: I will leave the Bell Place
with the WBO belt in my hand Saturday evening. No doubt in
my mind, I will become the new WBO champion of the world in
the next hours. I am waiting this opportunity since two
years, it’s the time to realize my dream. Saunders is a good
fighter, he is good technically, but I am also good
technically… and I am stronger physically than him, and I am
a puncher a lot of more dangerous than him.”
Saunders was clearly upset to hear Lemieux at the
microphone. “I am extremely enthusiastic to have this first
fight on the Canadian territory, and I am sure I will keep a
marvelous souvenir of this event,” said Saunders. “I never
felt so good at few hours of a fight. I am undefeated, and
believe me, I will return in England undefeated. If Lemieux
believes seriously he will dethrone me as WBO champion of
the world, he is mixing fiction and reality. I will take
care of Lemieux, and challenge the winner of an eventual
rematch between Gennady Golovkin and Saul Canelo Alvarez. My
dream is to take part to an unification titles bout.”
Former middleweight, super middleweight and light
heavyweight champion of the world, Bernard Hopkins, the
Oscar De La Hoya’s assistant with Golden Boy Promotions in
Los Angeles, is impatient to assist to this bout. “David and
Billy Joe are certainly two of the best middleweights on the
planet actually, said Hopkins. I am very impatient to see
what will happen Saturday evening. No doubt that the winner
will play a major role on the international scene in 2018.
My pick? David Lemieux, obviously…”
De La Hoya is the the Lemieux promoter since three years. He
is supposed to arrive in Montréal Saturday afternoon.
And Lemieux made the writers laughed when he said: “Saunders
mentioned to some boxing writers that he will give me a
gift, his purse, if I beat him Saturday evening. Well, I
will leave the Bell Place with a lot of money in my
pocket….”
Marc Ramsay, the Lemieux’s trainer, is looking relax at two
days of the event. “I am extremely satisfied, because David
got a marvelous preparation mentally, physically,
technically and strategically, said Ramsay. David is a real
warrior who is becoming extremely hungry when he got to
prepare himself for a major fight like this one. I am
positive that David will do the necessary to become the new
WBO middleweight champion of the world. I mentioned it
several times and I gonna repeat it, it’s a real pleasure to
work day after day with a fighter so determinate.”
Dominic Ingle, the Saunders trainer, replied to Ramsay. “I
never saw Billy Joe so motivated and enthusiast at few days
of a world championship bout,” said Ingle.” I am expecting a
great performance from my fighter Saturday evening. My
prediction? Billy Joe and me will leave Montréal with the
WBO belt in our luggage…
Eric Gomez, the Golden Boy Promotions matchmaker, looked
happy to be back in Montréal. “It’s always great to be back
in Montréal,” said Gomez. “This boxing show will be
memorable, no doubt about it. When I asked to Billy Joe
Saunders if he was ready to come in Montréal to defend his
WBO championship of the world, he said yes with no
hesitation. He has a lot of guts. And Lemieux also has a lot
of guts. David never refuse an opponent, no matter his
caliber. I am sure we will assist to a great fight Saturday
evening, David was dreaming to get another shot for a world
title, then, he will certainly do the necessary to win it.”
The co-promoter of the event, the Montrealer Camille
Estephan, the big boss of The Eye Of The Tiger Management
Group, is looking happy like a child in a ice cream parlor.
“I said that this boxing show is historic, and I did not
change my mind,” said Estephan at the microphone. “The crowd
will assist to four championships bouts, including this WBO
middleweight championship of the world. I cannot remember a
local boxing show of this amplitude. My prediction? David
will be the winner, and the fight will be designed as the
bout of the year on the international boxing scene.”
The three others championships fights of the evening will
involved Antoine Douglas (22-1-1), from Virginia State,
Custio Clayton (12-0-0), a fighter from Halifax, Nova
Scotia, who is living now in Montréal, and Ryan Garcia
(12-0-0), from Victorville, California.
Douglas will fight the Irish Gary O’Sullivan (26-2-0) in a
WBO InterContinental middleweight championship, Clayton will
face Carlos Molina (28-8-2), from Chicago, in a WBO
welterweight international bout, and Garcia will be opposed
to the Mexican Noe Martinez Raygoza (23-9-2) in a NABF North
American super featherweight championship.
“I will take care of Douglas, and challenge the winner of
the bout Lemieux-Saunders,” repeated O’Sullivan. “I am
deserving to get my chance for a world title.”
Douglas, obviously, believes that O’Sullivan is dreaming. “I
have the speed and the mobility to confuse O’Sullivan, and
you will see, I will be in the winner’s corner.”
Peter Nelson, from HBO, confirmed that his network will
televise three bouts by 9.40 PM: the 10 rounds opposing the
Montrealer super lightweight Yves Ulysse Jr. (14-1-0) to the
New Yorker Cletus Seldin (21-0-0), and the fights
Douglas-O’Sullivan and Lemieux- Saunders.
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