By Ian S Palmer
Former world middleweight titleholder David Lemieux is back in action for the first time in 15 months this Saturday, December 7th when he takes on Max Bursak of Ukraine at the Bell Centre in Lemieux’s hometown of Montreal, Quebec in a 10 or 12-round super middleweight battle. Lemieux last fought in September of 2018 when he knocked out Gary O’Sullivan in the first round while Bursak last fought in October when he stopped Beka Mukhulishvili in the fifth round.
In his last major bout two years ago, the 30-year-old Lemieux was thoroughly outboxed and somewhat embarrassed over 12 rounds by former WBO Champ Billy Joe Saunders. He then came back with a 12-round unanimous decision win over little known Karim Achour in May, 2018 to rebuild his confidence and then destroyed Spike O’Sullivan in 164 seconds four months later and has been inactive since then. There’s no hiding the fact that Lemieux doesn’t want to box anybody, he just wants to knock them out.
Lemieux had a good amateur career and has also won the Quebec Boxing Council Super Welterweight Title and Canadian Boxing Federation Super Middleweight title as a pro as well as the NABF, WBO NABO, WBC Continental Americas, and WBO Inter-Continental Middleweight Titles. However, he’s best known for once being the IBF Middleweight king. He enters the bout with a record of 40-4 along with 34 big Kos. He’s a hard-hitting brawler with a lot of power and somewhat questionable chin.
While he usually blasts most of his opponents out, he’s also been stopped himself a couple of times as Marco Antonio Rubio halted him in the seventh round in 2011 and Gennady Golovkin stopped him in the eighth round in 2015. His other loss also came in 2011 when Joachim Alcine beat him by a 12-round majority decision. He turned pro in 2007 and has fought 180 rounds since then and owns a current knockout ratio of 77.3 per cent.
He’s beaten some journeymen along the way and lost when stepping up in class against Rubio, Alcine, Golovkin and Saunders. However he stopped Curtis Stevens by a sensational third-round knockout last year, stopped Gabriel Rosado in 10 rounds in 2014, beat Hassan N’Dam by unanimous decision for the vacant IBF crown in 2015, stopped Glen Tapia in four in 2016 and beat Marcos Reyes by 10-round unanimous decision in May, 2016.
Lemieux is just over 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 70-inch reach. He isn’t a naturally-gifted boxer, but he works hard for everything he has, possesses heart and power and is quite entertaining. His chin is questionable though and that’s one of the reasons he’s so exciting. Like I said, he isn’t interested in going to the scorecards and will be looking to stop Bursak as soon as possible. Basically, boxing is Lemieux’s weak point and slugging is his strong point.
The 35-year-old Bursak is probably best known for his shot at the WBO Super Middleweight Title in 2017 when he dropped a wide unanimous decision to Gilberto Ramirez. He’ll enter the ring with a mark of 35-5-2 with 16 Kos. He’s been beaten every time he stepped up in class as all five of his losses were decisions to Ramirez, Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, Zac Dunn, Jarrod Fletcher and Martín Murray and he’ll be stepping up in class again when he meets Lemieux.
Bursak is a decent sized super middleweight at 6-feet tall with a reach of 71 inches so he’s three inches taller than Lemieux with a minimal inch reach advantage. He’s boxed 295 rounds since turning pro back in 2004 but hasn’t beaten anybody of note though other than Brian Vera and Nick Blackwell. His draws came in his pro debut in a four-round affair with Viacheslav Kusov and then an eight-round decision with Mukhitdin Rajapbaev last December. Bursak doesn’t have much in the way of power either as his current knockout ratio stands at just 38 per cent but he does have a pretty solid chin.
Prediction…
This should be an interesting fight since Lemieux’s a knockout artist and Bursak’s never been stopped. Lemieux needs a win here if he hopes to become a contender in the super middleweight division. He had trouble making the weight at 160 lbs and will now apparently campaign in the 168 lb division., Lemieux doesn’t have the greatest boxing skills so this could be a tough fight for him if he can’t stop Bursak. However, he should be able to do just enough to pull out a decision if it goes the distance.
