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Cloutier’s Canada Corner
Lemieux: "I Hurt Stevens In
Each Round,
I Want To Do The Same With Reyes"
By Daniel Cloutier
LAS VEGAS - The Montrealer middleweight David Lemieux said
he was in great shape when he fought the New Yorker Curtis
Stevens March 6th at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New
York, and he said he will be in better shape when he will
face the Mexican Marcos Reyes May 6th at the T-Mobile Arena.
Just before the main event opposing the Mexicans Saul Canelo
Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Lemieux (37-3-0) and
Reyes (35-4-0) will be nose to nose in the ring of the
T-Mobile Arena.
“Seriously, I could not be in better shape than I am now,”
said Lemieux. “I got a very good preparation for Stevens,
and after the bout, I took only one week off, and I got back
in the gym. I feel I am in fire now. I am sure I will
deliver a solid performance in Las Vegas.”
Lemieux beat Stevens by KO in the third round. Few days
after, the promoter of Golden Boy Promotions in Los Angeles,
the former world champion Oscar De La Hoya, called the
Montrealer promoter Camille Estephan, the Lemieux’s manager,
to tell him he wanted to oppose Lemieux to Reyes May 6th. De
La Hoya is the Lemieux’s promoter.
“I hurt severely Stevens in each round in Verona, and I want
to do the same with Reyes in Las Vegas,” said Lemieux. “I
saw Reyes in action on video. He was fighting Julio Cesar
Chavez Jr.. He is very aggressive. You know me, I always
performed when I am facing an aggressive boxer. The fight
Reyes-Chavez was extremely closed but it’s certainly not my
intention to get a close fight with Reyes. I am sure I will
be able to attack him intensively May 6th. Reyes is not a a
defensive fighter, and it’s absolutely perfect. Maybe he
will be patient in the first round, he will try to analyze
my style, but if I hurt him in every rounds like I am
planning to do it, he will certainly open the machine and
give me more opportunities to hurt him. I like my chances to
win by KO again, even if he got a very close fight with
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in 2015.”
If Lemieux wins against Reyes, Golden Boy Promotions is
planning to oppose him to the winner of the main event. A
fight Lemieux-Alvarez or Lemieux-Chavez could happen in
2018. When we asked to Lemieux who he believes gonna win the
main event, he said: “I am picking Alvarez as winner. Chavez
is a big middleweight, he is very solid, but Alvarez is a
tremendous puncher, and I think he is better technically
than Chavez. If Golden Boy Promotions really wants to oppose
me to the winner, great, I really believe I will face Saul
Canelo Alvarez. For sure, my intention is to fight the
biggest names of the middleweight division now, no matter if
it’s Alvarez, Chavez or Golovkin.”
Few months ago, Oscar De La Hoya was thinking to oppose
Lemieux to Alvarez or Chavez next fall, but a fight
Lemieux-Alvarez is not possible before 2018.
If Alvarez beat Chavez, he wants absolutely to face Gennady
Golovkin (37-0-0). A fighter from Kazakstan, Golovkin is the
WBC, WBA and IBF middleweight champion of the world.
Then, Lemieux will have to wait before get his chance to
face Alvarez or get a rematch with Golovkin.
“Yes, we will be obliged to wait to 2018 to organize a fight
between Lemieux and Alvarez… if Canelo wins against Chavez
and Golovkin, and Lemieux wins against Reyes,” said Eric
Gomez, the Golden Boy Promotions matchmaker. “Canelo wants
to take care of Chavez and challenge Golovkin. Then, if
Alvarez wins next Saturday, he will probably face Golovkin
next fall. And if Alvarez and Lemieux are in the winning
circle Saturday evening at the T-Mobile Arena, and Canelo
maintain his winning sequence against Golovkin, we will be
in perfect position to organize a fight Lemieux-Alvarez in
2018.”
Lemieux is ranked fourth contender by the WBC and the WBO in
the middleweight division (160 pounds), fifth by the WBA and
seventh by the IBF.
“I made great progress technically since my defeat with
Golovkin, and I showed it clearly against Stevens,” said
Lemieux. “I really believe I have now the weapons to beat
all the best middleweight in the world.”
Lemieux won the IBF middleweight championship of the world
in June 2015 at Bell Centre in Montréal, in beating the
French African Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (35-2-0) by unanimous
decision, but in October of the same year, he lost his title
against Golovkin in an IBF and WBA unification world titles
fight disputed in the ring of the Madison Square Garden.
Golovkin won the bout by TKO in the eighth round.
“I would love to fight Alvarez and get a rematch with
Golovkin in 2018,” said Lemieux. “I have now the maturity to
face the stars of the middleweight division.”
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