A crowd of 6,532 at Barclays Center were treated to a special performance from two warriors Saturday night as David Lemieux (33-2, 31 KOs)stopped “King” Gabriel Rosado (21-9, 13 KOs)in the 10th round of a very competitive main event on HBO Boxing After Dark.
The Montreal-native Lemieux retained his NABF Middleweight title while displaying the incredible power that has put the entire middleweight division on notice. Lemieux scored a knockdown in round three when he delivered a flurry that knocked the Philadelphia-born Rosado off-balance and put him on the canvas.
Rosado stayed determined in round four however, taking numerous shots from Lemieux, even asking for more, before he launched an attack that left Lemieux bloodied as he headed back to his corner.
“I responded to the test well, my preparation has been a lot different.,” said Lemieux. “I know he wanted to take me into deep waters but we have been practicing on explosiveness from the first part of the fight all the way to the end.”
The fight remained competitive through the mid-rounds until Lemieux started to dominate the severely handicapped Rosado, whose eye began to swell in the second round and only got worse through out the brawl. The fight was called by the ringside doctor at 2:25 in the tenth round with the technical knockout victory going to Lemieux.
“I wanted to show everyone what I could do. He was better than I thought but I thought we had a great fight and I hope everyone enjoyed it,” said Lemieux. “I feel like I’m as good as anybody in the division and I’m willing to fight anybody. I want to win a world title.”
“He’s a good fighter. In the second round he punched me in my eye and after it puffed up I couldn’t see anything. I kept seeing three of him. It’s just my luck,” said Rosado. “I know I should have started the fight better, if I had taken control earlier I know it would have been different. But I know he’s a good fighter and I take nothing away from him.”
The evening’s co-main event gave the fans a scorching fifth-round knockout when Oxnard, California’s Hugo “The Boss” Centeno Jr. (22-0, 12 KOs)delivered a vicious left hook to the head of San Benito, Texas’ James “The King” De La Rosa (23-3, 13 KOs)that abruptly ended the fight.
