MONTREAL (March 11) – Fighters David Lemieux (34-3, 31 KOs) and James de la Rosa (23-3, 13 KOs) weighed in at 165.6 pounds and 162 pounds respectively today at their official weigh-in from the Casino de Montreal. Lemieux, who came in 2.6 pounds overweight from the contracted weight of 163 pounds, had Canadian co-promoter and manager, Camille Estephan, negotiate with De La Rosa’s camp to try to reach an agreement.
“Despite offering De La Rosa an increase on his purse, De La Rosa has refused to fight due to the weight issue,” said Camille Estephan, President of Eye of the Tiger Management. “He really did not feel comfortable fighting at weight higher than originally agreed. We did make an offer to local undefeated fighter as an alternative opponent however; the fight was not approved by the commission.”
The middleweight event would have marked David Lemieux’s return to the ring after a sell-out event at The Mecca of Boxing, Madison Square Garden, in New York, on October 17, 2015, when he faced unified middleweight world champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin.
The rest of the card will continue as scheduled with Steven “Bang Bang” Butler (14-0-1, 11 KOs) taking on Sladjan “The Tiger” Janjanin (13-0, 11 KOs) in a 10-round now main event for the vacant IBF Youth Super Welterweight Title and Schiller “Batman” Hyppolite (19-1, 13 KOs) facing Darnell “Deezol” Boon (23-22, 12 KOs) to broadcast live in the U.S. by FOX Deportes and will be available in English via live stream by Ring TV, both starting at 10:00 p.m. ET/ 7:00 p.m. PT.
The March 12 event featuring Steven Butler vs. Sladjan Jananin is presented by Eye of the Tiger Management in association with Golden Boy Promotions. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. E.T. and the first fight begins at 7:00 p.m. E.T. The event will be broadcast in HD for $59.99 and $54.99 in SD on Indigo and all pay-per-view channels across Canada starting at 9:00 p.m. E.T. and the undercard will be televised by TVA Sports starting at 7:00 p.m. E.T. The U.S. broadcast is presented by FOX Deportes and via live stream by Ring TV starting at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT.