By James Slater: Before his shock, 7th-round stoppage defeat at the hands of hard-hitting Mexican warrior Marco Antonio Rubio, 22-year-old David Lemieux was being looked at as the next star of boxing. Naturally gifted and possessing a lethal punch, the Canadian looked a sure thing for world title honours. Now, some six months on from the Rubio disaster, Lemieux is set to return to the ring.
On Dec. 10th at The Bell Centre in Montreal, Lemieux will square off with former WBA light-middleweight champion Joachim Alcine of Haiti (but also based in Canada). On the same bill, Adonis Stevenson, 15-1(12) will meet Aaron Pryor Junior, 16-4(11) in a 12-rounder up at super-middleweight. Both fights are intriguing, but it is the Lemieux-Alcine fight that will attract most attention.
Like Lemiuex, 35-year-old Alcine, 32-2-1(19) knows what it’s like to get stopped in a fight most people thought he’d win. Back in the summer of 2008, in his second defence of the WBA belt, “Ti-Joa,” as Alcine is known, was starched in quite sensational fashion by Daniel Santos. That 6th-round KO took a lot of the confidence from the first-ever “world” champion boxer to have been born in Haiti, and he took some time off. Since coming back and boxing alternatively as a light-middle and a middleweight, Alcine has enjoyed only partial success.
Two decent points wins came, before Alcine was stopped inside a round by hard-hitting terror Alfredo Angulo. Since that July 2010 loss, Alcine has boxed a draw this past August with Jose Medina. Judging by his current form then, Alcine looks like a decent, if not too dangerous comeback foe for Lemieux. Still, we never know how a first defeat is going to affect a young fighter. Will Lemieux be gun-shy in there on December 10th? Will his self confidence have vanished?
Had this fight taken place prior to the Rubio fight, Lemieux would have been expected to blast Alcine out of there. But now, in light of what happened back in April, we can’t be sure what will happen in the fight. Lemieux and his team have promised some big changes have been worked on in the gym and that the Rubio loss will prove to be a learning experience and nothing more. The 22-year-old remains one of the most exciting prospects in the middleweight division, and if he can regroup Lemieux could go on to have big fights with the likes of Dmitriy Pirog and maybe even Sergio Gabriel Martinez.
Such big names seem miles away right now, though, and Alcine must be taken care of, without any hitches, first.
A quick win for Lemieux cannot be ruled out – he is 25-1(24) after all – but I think the one-time sure thing will start the fight in a cautious manner. I go for Lemieux to feel his way into the fight and score a mid-rounds stoppage.