After getting outboxed and pummelled courtesy of Gennady Golovkin last October, David Lemieux looks to be rebuilding against a beatable tune-up foe. Lemieux will be taking on fringe contender James de la Rosa on April 12th in his hometown of Montreal, Canada.
Since the Golovkin defeat was so severe, I think we can all agree Lemieux (34-3, 31 KO) deserves the chance to get back into the game mentally and realign his wheels. Lemieux may have his limitations, but he’s still got a long career ahead of him due to his marketable power and young 27-year-old body.
Prior to the ‘GGG’ slaughter, Lemieux restored his blemished career by clocking up nine straight wins after back-to-back losses to Marco Antonio Rubio and Joachim Alcine in 2011. Lemieux then made his US debut against solid gatekeeper Gabriel Rosado and knocked down Hassan N’Dam four times to take home the IBF title.
So who’s this de la Rosa (23-3, 13 KO) chap? Well, chances are you might have already seen him back in 2014 on the Mayweather vs Maidana II card where he beat a drained-looking Alfredo Angulo. De la Rosa was soon viciously manhandled by Hugo Centeno last December, however, which pushed the start button to begin a one year hiatus.
Lemieux shouldn’t have too many difficulties with de la Rosa, but you never know. Revered champions such as Abner Mares (who suffered a crushing 1st round knockout defeat to Jhonny Gonzalez in 2013) struggled with less capable opponents when they returned. At the risk of sounding impartial, I hope to see Lemieux back in the driving seat in 2016. (Guy’s an entertaining banger, what can I say?)
So, will David Lemieux be able to quash any potential inner demons and throw himself back into the Middleweight mix? Or is there a steep mountain ahead of him?
