David Lemieux (37-3, 33 KOs) registered a highlight reel knockout on Saturday night in halting former world title challenger Curtis Stevens (29-6, 21 KOs) in round 3 of a scheduled 12 round fight on HBO Boxing After Dark (BAD) at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, NY.
In round 3, Lemieux tagged Stevens with a scorching left hook to the head that knocked him senseless. Stevens went straight down to the canvas on his back and didn’t stir for quite some time. He was knocked completely out by the left hook from Lemieux. Steven was backed up against the ropes at the time of the knockout.
It’s a no-no for fighters to back up against the ropes when face knockout artists. Stevens, 32, made a big mistake and he paid for it. The other mistake Stevens made was for him to throw a left hook while backed against the ropes. You don’t want to throw wide hooks when you’ve let yourself get backed up against the ropes the way Stevens did.
The fight was stopped at 1:59 of round 3. Lemieux said afterwards that he wants one of the following fighters: Billy Joe Saunders, Saul Canelo Alvarez or Gennady Golovkin. The chances of Lemieux getting any of those fights anytime soon are unlikely. Saunders has been ordered by the World Boxing Organization to fight consecutive mandatory challengers. The only way he can get around that is if he takes a unification fight, which could come against Golovkin.
Lemieux showed good punching power throughout the short 3-rounds of action tonight. He was shelling the hapless 32-year-old Stevens the entire time with one big power shot after another. Stevens didn’t seem to have the desire to throw many of his own punches. One reason for Stevens’ lack of punch output appeared to be the size difference between the two fighters. Not only was Lemieux taller than the 5’7” Stevens by 2 /2” inches, but he also looked much heavier than him.
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In the co-feature bout, former featherweight champion Yurorkis Gamboa (26-1, 17 KOs) came off a 2-year layoff to defeat Rene Alvarado (24-8, 16 KOs) by a harder than expected 10 round unanimous decision by the scores 97-92, 97-92, and 97-93. Gamboa was dropped in round 10 by a nice shot from Alvarado. However, the 35-year-old Gamboa was unhurt. He got up and continued to pot shot Alvarado to win the fight by a 10 round decision.
There wasn’t a lot of action in the fight unfortunately. The boxing fans booed frequently the two fighters for their failure to fight with intensity. Gamboa rarely initiated action in the fight. He seemed more content to counter Alvarado. Gamboa appeared to be conserving his energy during the fight. Before tonight, Gamboa hadn’t fought in 2 years since 2015. He seems to be fighting only on rare occasions at this point in his career. It would be nice if we see Gamboa back in the ring in 2017, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s gone for another year.
Gamboa was hurt by a right hand in round 8 by Alvarado. He was let off the hook, as Alvarado did not do much to try and follow up with some big power shots after he had him hurt.
