by Ian S Palmer
Former IBF Middleweight Champion David Lemieux of Montreal, Canada is back in the ring this Saturday, May 7th when he takes on Glen Tapia of Passaic, New Jersey in a 10-round middleweight bout. The fight is on the undercard of the Canelo Alvarez vs Amir Khan showdown and can be seen on HBO pay-per-view in North America and live on BoxNation in the UK. This is Lemieux’s first fight since being stopped by Gennady Golovkin in eight rounds in a title unification bout last October Tapia was also stopped in his last outing when Michael Soro knocked him out in four rounds last May.
The 27-year-old Lemieux enters this contest with a 34-3 record along with 31 Kos. He had problems making weight in his last scheduled fight which was set for March against James De La Rosa. Lemieux is a hard-hitting brawler with a lot of power and questionable chin. He usually blasts most of his opponents out, but he’s also been stopped himself a couple of times as Marco Antonio Rubio of Mexico stopped him in the seventh round back in 2011. His other loss came the same year when Joachim Alcine beat him by a 12-round majority decision.
Lemieux stands 5-feet-nine-and-a-half-inches tall with a reach of 70 inches. He turned pro back in 2007 and has fought 128 rounds since then. His knockout power is quite obvious as his current stoppage ratio stands at 84 per cent. He’s beaten some journeymen boxers along the way and was beaten when he stepped up in class against Rubio, Alcine and Golovkin. However, he did manage to stop Gabriel Rosado in 10 rounds back in December of 2014 and beat Hassan N’Dam by a 12-round unanimous decision for the vacant IBF crown last June.
The 26-year-old Tapia enters the fight at 23-2 along with 15 Kos. He has both the height and reach advantage as he’s 5-foot-11 and has a wingspan of 73 inches, but is moving up in weight to the 160 lb. division. Tapia has just 98 rounds under his belt since turning pro in 2008 and his current knockout ratio stands at 60 per cent. He’s also been stopped twice as he was beaten by James Kirkland in six rounds in December, 2013 and by Soro last year.
Both of these boxers are extremely fan friendly because of their attacking attitudes and questionable chins. They’ve both been in their share of wars and could be somewhat shot at this point even though they’re in their mid-twenties. Tapia needs to keep his hands up for defensive purposes and has to keep Lemieux on the back foot by pressuring him at all times and box him at a distance from the outside. He also needs to keep the fight in the centre of the ring and off of the ropes.
Prediction
Neither fighter is hard to hit and this likely won’t go the distance due to the combination of their punching power and their weakened chins. Lemieux can sometimes look like a world class boxer with excellent power and he can sometimes look amateurish. He definitely has enough dynamite in his fists to stop Tapia and vice versa. It looks like the winner of this fight is going to be the one who has the strongest chin on the night. It should be exciting while it lasts, but Lemieux, being the natural middleweight has the edge here and should end up stopping Tapia somewhere down the line. However, it definitely won’t be a complete shock if it’s Tapia who stops him.
