David Lemieux (boxer)

David Lemieux
Statistics
Rated at	Light-middleweight Middleweight Super-middleweight
Height	5 ft 9 ^1⁄2 in (1.77 m)
Reach	70 in (178 cm)
Nationality	Canadian
Born	December 22, 1988 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	37
Wins	34
Wins by KO	31
Losses	3

David Lemieux (born December 22, 1988) is a Canadian professional boxer^[1] and former IBF middleweight champion.

Early life

Lemieux was born in Montreal, Quebec on December 22, 1988 to a French father and a Lebanese-born Armenian mother, Aznive Khavloudjian. The couple divorced after having one son, the 2-year senior to David. David on the other hand was born after the departure of his father and he claims he has never seen his biological father.

His mother remarried to an Armenian, Garo Melekian who adopted the two children and became a mentor to David. Lemieux studied at the local Saint-François-de-Laval school, but did not excel in classes spending most of time on the streets. He was eventually expelled from the school for street fights. Encouraged by his adoptive father to focus, he started training in Ring 83 located in Ahuntsic with the encouragement and guidance of Baha Laham, a successful Canadian boxer of Lebanese descent.

Amateur boxing career

Lemieux began boxing at the age of nine. He won the Canadian Amateur Championship three times.^[2]

Lemieux is currently trained by Marc Ramsay. Previously, he was trained by Russ Anber and was featured with Anber in DVD tutorial series Title Boxing as a teenager. He also featured with Anber in the Rival Box tips series.

Lemieux was never interested in making a bid to join the Canadian Olympic boxing team which was woefully under-supported in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics. Instead, he and Russ Anber viewed the Olympic program as a dead-end which would have him competing against boxers with vastly more experience while limiting his training prospects in ways detrimental to a fighter with professional aspirations.

Professional boxing career

Early Career

Although Lemieux planned to turn pro at 17, he was required to wait until he turned 18 because of Canadian Boxing Federation rules.^[2] Quebec-based promotion company Groupe Yvon Michel (GYM) was quick to sign him to a multi-fight contract, pitting him against opponents in four-round bouts that quickly became crowd favorites in Montreal. Lemieux is now a proven commodity, fighting televised six-rounders on ESPN's Friday Night Fights and filling out the undercard during several championship events.

World Middleweight title Contender

Loss to Rubio

On April 8, 2011 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Lemieux was featured in the main event of ESPN's Friday Night Fights. His opponent was Marco Antonio Rubio, who came to the fight with a record of 49-5-1 (43 KOs). Lemieux was favored to win in his hometown against the Mexican veteran. During the first five rounds, Lemieux dominated Rubio by landing hard power punches to his guard. Rubio came to life in round six and began to land hard punches as Lemieux tired. In the seventh round, Rubio knocked down Lemieux with a right hook to the head. Lemieux got up, but Rubio continued where he left off and threw more punches at him. With only seconds left in round seven, Lemieux's corner had seen enough and threw in the towel to stop the fight. After the fight Anber said that Lemieux still has a lot to work and improve on if he wants to reach the top level.

Loss to Alcine

In a huge upset, former world champion Joachim Alcine defeated Lemieux at the Bell Centre in Montreal, on December 10, 2011. Lemieux was quoted as a 5 to 1 favorite by the wagertrackers. The fight was declared a majority decision over 12 rounds, with scores of 116-112 by two judges and an even scoring of 114-114 by the third one. Alcine was awarded the WBC International Middleweight title. Most ringside observers thought Alcine won the fight.^[3]

Comeback Trail

Since the Alcine fight, Lemieux fought six straight bouts against opponents of mostly middling relevance, before facing Fernando Guerrero, a former light middleweight and middleweight contender who had only a year prior fought WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin to a sixth round loss. Lemieux dominated Guerrero, repeatedly dropping him before finishing him off in the third round with a brutal right uppercut. His next bout would be against middleweight fringe contender Gabriel Rosado. Lemieux similarly dominated Rosado, dropping him in the third and pounding away at his mostly outmatched foe until the referee stopped the bout in the tenth due to swelling and cuts surrounding Rosado's eyes.

IBF Middleweight Champion

Lemieux vs. N'Dam N'Jikam

On June 20 2015, Lemieux fought Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam for the vacant IBF Middleweight Championship, again in Montreal. Lemieux scored four knockdowns en route to a victory by unanimous decision, setting up a showdown in October with currently unbeaten Gennady Golovkin, considered to be the best middleweight fighter in the world in 2015.^[4]

Lemieux vs. Golovkin

Lemieux lost his IBF Middleweight title to Gennady Golovkin on October 17, 2015 before a sold-out crowd of 20,548 at Madison Square Garden. Lemieux was down once in round 5. Golovkin was dominant from the first bell, landing punch after punch before the referee mercifully stepped in and stopped the fight in the eighth round. Golovkin was also ahead on all three judges scorecards (70-62 3 times).^[5]

Second Comeback Trail

Lemieux vs. Tapia

It was announced on March 17th, 2016 that Lemieux would fight on the undercard of Canelo-Khan at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on May 7, 2016. His opponent was announced to be struggling junior middleweight Glen Tapia (23-2, 15 KOs), who is coming off of a 4th round knockout loss to Michel Soro last May. Lemieux was due to fight against James De Lara Rosa a week earlier at 163lb catch-weight, but failed to make weight, many believe this was done intentionally so he could fight at the new arena.^[6]

Personal life

Lemieux is a resident of Cartierville, a Montreal suburb. He has a son, Léon from a previous relationship, the mother later left to Moscow. A second child; a daughter who speaks Armenian as her first language, was born through another relationship. Lemieux speaks five languages: French, English, Armenian, Arabic and Spanish.^[7][8]

Lemieux was managed for many years by Group Yvon Michel (GYM). Starting January 2015 he was managed by Camille Estephan, a Lebanese Canadian entrepreneur and promoter and owner of Eye of the Tiger Management (EOTTM).^[9][10]

Professional boxing record

Titles in boxing

Regional/International Titles:

• Canada CQB Light Middleweight Champion (154 lbs)
• WBC Youth Intercontinental Middleweight Champion (160 lbs)
• Canada Super Middleweight Champion (168 lbs)
• WBC International Middleweight Champion (160 lbs)

References

1. Boxrec. "David Lemieux". Boxrec Fighter Page. Retrieved 5 June 2007.
2. Doiron, Paul (October 16, 2009). "18 fights and 18 wins for young, upcoming boxer". Miramichi Leader (Brunswick News). p. C1.
3. Eastsideboxing.com, 11 December 2011 Retrieved on 11 December 2011. The attendance was roughly 3,000 people.
4. Template:Cite web Lemieux was defeated via eighth round TKO.
5. "Golovkin dominates Lemieux". Sky Sports.
6. "David Lemieux vs. Glen Tapia added to Canelo-Khan card". Boxing News 24. 2016-03-17. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
7. Réjean Tremblay (7 June 2015). "David Lemieux, un boxeur qui vient de loin" (in French). Journal de montréal. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
8. Amine Esseghir (19 June 2015). "David Lemieux, le petit gars de Cartierville veut sa ceinture" (in French). TC Media / Courrier Ahuntsic / Bordeaux-Cartierville. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
9. Mathieu Boulay (30 March 2015). "Camille Estephan réplique à Yvon Michel" (in French). TVA Sports. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
10. Jean-Luc Autret (22 January 2014). "Camille Estephan, un promoteur ambitieux" (in French). 12rounds.ca. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
11. http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?cat=boxer&human_id=389447