After a very nasty war of words that led many to believe we would see a real fire-fight between the two middleweight contenders, Canadian power-puncher and former IBF champ David Lemieux instead made painfully short work of Ireland’s Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan. Both men talked a great fight and promised to score a KO on the under-card of the massive Canelo-Golovkin rematch, but when it came to it, Lemieux was way too big, powerful and good for O’Sullivan.
It was all over in a round courtesy of Lemieux’s lethal left hand, bang on the chin as it landed with brutal efficiency. Now that O’Sullivan is out of the way, Lemieux, 40-4(34) can look ahead to a bigger fight. The former champ’s career was pretty on the line last night, had Lemieux looked bad or, worse still, lost, he would have been extremely short of options. Now, having once again proven he is one of the hardest punchers in the sport, Lemieux can aim high.
Before Saturday’s short night, Lemieux had spoken of his desire to fight both Golovkin and Canelo. Lemieux, who was bashed to a one-sided stoppage defeat to GGG a while back, said he wants his “revenge,” and Lemieux also said he would very much like to fight the GGG-Canelo II winner. Maybe, if he doesn’t go straight into a massive third fight with Triple-G, the Mexican superstar will look to make a first defence of his middleweight crown against Lemieux. Or maybe Golovkin, if he has to wait for that third go with Canelo, will grant Lemieux a rematch.
With the sheer power he carries, Lemieux will always have a shot at beating any middleweight, and he is almost always involved in good action fights. There could be a couple more big, big nights for Lemieux yet.
As for the vanquished O’Sullivan, the clinical KO he was beaten down by is a stark reminder how people, fighters, should always be careful what they ask for. O’Sullivan, now 28-3(20) went back and forth with Lemieux, exchanging insults, and it was pretty much this that saw “Spike” manage to get the fight – Lemieux wanted so badly to make him pay. Boxing is all about levels, and we saw that the gritty Irish warrior is in no way in Lemieux’s league.
