David Lemieux (boxer)

Early life

Lemieux was born in Montreal, Quebec on December 22, 1988 to a French father and a Lebanese Armenian mother, Aznive Khavloudjian. The couple divorced after having one son, the 2-year senior to David. David on the other hand was born after the departure of his father and he claims he has never seen his biological father.

His mother remarried to an Armenian, Garo Melekian who adopted the two children and became a mentor to David. Lemieux studied at the local Saint-François-de-Laval school, but did not excel in classes, spending most of time on the streets. He was eventually expelled from the school for street fights. Encouraged by his adoptive father to focus, he started training in Ring 83 located in Ahuntsic with the encouragement and guidance of Baha Laham, a successful Canadian boxer of Lebanese descent.

Amateur career

Lemieux began boxing at the age of nine. He won the Canadian Amateur Championship three times.

Lemieux is currently trained by Marc Ramsay. Previously, he was trained by Russ Anber and was featured with Anber in DVD tutorial series Title Boxing as a teenager. He also featured with Anber in the Rival Box tips series.

Lemieux was never interested in making a bid to join the Canadian Olympic boxing team which was woefully under-supported in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics. Instead, he and Russ Anber viewed the Olympic program as a dead-end which would have him competing against boxers with vastly more experience while limiting his training prospects in ways detrimental to a fighter with professional aspirations.

Early career

Although Lemieux planned to turn pro at 17, he was required to wait until he turned 18 because of Canadian Boxing Federation rules. Quebec-based promotion company Groupe Yvon Michel (GYM) was quick to sign him to a multi-fight contract, pitting him against opponents in four-round bouts that quickly became crowd favorites in Montreal. Lemieux became a proven commodity, fighting televised six-rounders on ESPN's Friday Night Fights and filling out the undercard during several championship events.

Lemieux vs. Rubio

On April 8, 2011 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Lemieux was featured in the main event of ESPN's Friday Night Fights. His opponent was Marco Antonio Rubio, who came to the fight with a record of 49-5-1 (43 KOs). Lemieux was favored to win in his hometown against the Mexican veteran. He came into the fight with a perfect record of 25 wins and no losses, with 24 wins inside the distance. During the first five rounds, Lemieux dominated Rubio by landing hard power punches to his guard. Rubio came to life in round six and began to land hard punches as Lemieux tired. In the seventh round, Rubio knocked down Lemieux with a right hook to the head. Lemieux got up, but Rubio continued where he left off and threw more punches at him. With only seconds left in round seven, Lemieux's corner had seen enough and threw in the towel to stop the fight. After the fight Anber said that Lemieux still has a lot to work and improve on if he wants to reach the top level.

Lemieux vs. Alcine

In a huge upset, former world champion Joachim Alcine defeated Lemieux at the Bell Centre in Montreal, on December 10, 2011. Lemieux was quoted as a 5 to 1 favorite by the wagertrackers. The fight was declared a majority decision over 12 rounds, with scores of 116-112 by two judges and an even scoring of 114-114 by the third one. Alcine was awarded the WBC International Middleweight title. Most ringside observers thought Alcine won the fight.

Road to world title

After the Alcine fight, Lemieux fought six straight bouts against opponents of mostly middling relevance, before facing Fernando Guerrero, a former light middleweight and middleweight contender who had only a year prior fought WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin to a sixth round loss. The fight took place on the undercard of the WBC light heavyweight fight Stevenson vs. Fonfara. Lemieux dominated Guerrero, repeatedly dropping him before finishing him off in the third round with a brutal right uppercut. Lemieux won the NABF middleweight title with this win.

Lemieux vs. Rosado

His next bout was be against middleweight fringe contender Gabriel Rosado (21-8, 13 KOs), defending his NABF middleweight belt. Lemieux similarly dominated Rosado, dropping him in the third and pounding away at his mostly outmatched foe until the referee stopped the bout in the tenth due to swelling and cuts surrounding Rosado's eyes. It was the first HBO televised bout for Lemieux, who was hoping to challenge unified middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin in the near future. In the post-fight interview, Lemieux praised Rosado, "Hats off to Rosado. He is one hell of a fighter. I had tremendous preparation. I wanted to show all of you what I could do. I wanted to make a statement. Rosado is even better than I thought. I hope you enjoyed it." There was 6,532 in attendance for the fight. At the time of stoppage, Lemieux was ahead 90-80, 89-81 and 88-82 on all three judges scorecards. The fight averaged 906,000 viewers and peaked at 1.16 million viewers.

Lemieux vs. N'Dam N'Jikam

On June 20, 2015, Lemieux fought Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam (31-1, 18 KOs) for the vacant IBF Middleweight Championship, again in Montreal. Lemieux scored four knockdowns en route to a victory by unanimous decision. Two judges scored the bout 115-109 while the third saw it 114-110 for Lemieux, who improved to 34-2 with 31 knockouts, setting up a showdown in October with unbeaten Golovkin, considered to be the best middleweight fighter in the world in 2015.

Lemieux vs. Golovkin

Lemieux lost the IBF Middleweight title to Gennady Golovkin on October 17, 2015 before a sold-out crowd of 20,548 at Madison Square Garden. Lemieux was down once in round 5. Golovkin was dominant from the first bell, landing punch after punch before the referee mercifully stepped in and stopped the fight in the eighth round. Golovkin was also ahead on all three judges scorecards (70-62 3 times). Lemieux earned a career high payday of $1.5 million and was guaranteed a share of PPV revenue whilst Golovkin earned a career high $2 million also including a share of the PPV profits. According to CompuBox statistics, Lemieux only landed 89 of 335 punches thrown (27%). Golovkin had a connect rate of 51% landing 280 of 549 punches.

Lemieux vs. Tapia, Rios

It was announced on March 17, 2016 that Lemieux would fight on the undercard of Canelo-Khan at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on May 7, 2016. His opponent was announced to be Glen Tapia (23-2, 15 KOs), who was newly signed to Golden Boy and moving up in weight. Lemieux was due to fight against James De Lara Rosa a week earlier at a 163lb catchweight, but he failed to make weight, many believe this was done intentionally so he could fight at the new arena. Lemieux showed an improved jab, footwork and head movement. He dominated the fight, shaking Tapia numerous times leading into the fourth round where he knocked Tapia down. Tapia's trainer Freddie Roach waved the fight off right after.

After a few months of trying to negotiate a deal to fight Curtis Stevens, it was confirmed by Eye of the Tiger promotions that Lemieux would be fighting unknown Argentine Cristian Fabian Rios (21-7-3, 6 KOs) at the Centre Bell in Montreal on October 22. Lemieux was taken the distance only the fourth time in his career as he won a one-sided 10 round unanimous decision. Lemieux attempted to score a knockout, but wasn’t able to get the job done against a durable Rios. The three judges scored the fight 100-90, 100-90 and 99-91. The win ensured Lemieux a possible future fight against the likes of Saul Alvarez or WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders in early 2017.

Lemieux vs. Stevens

On January 16, 2017 a fight between Lemieux and former world title challenger Curtis Stevens (29-5, 21 KOs) was finally agreed to main event a HBO: Boxing After Dark card on March 11 at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York. Lemieux won the fight after he knocked Stevens out with a short left hook. The referee Charlie Fitch waived the count immediately after Stevens was left unconscious The stoppage took place in round 3, at 1 minute and 59 seconds. Emergency personnel entered the ring immediately to attend to Stevens. He was conscious however whilst being stretchered out of the arena. The fight averaged 606,000 viewers and peaked at 672,000 viewers for HBO. On Sunday morning following the fight, Stevens representatives confirmed he was OK.

Lemieux vs. Reyes

Only a month after knocking out Curtis Stevens, Lemieux was added to the Canelo vs. Chavez Jr. undercard at the T-Mobile Arena in Nevada on May 6, 2017. His opponent was announced as 29 year old Mexican boxer Marcos Reyes (35-4, 26 KOs) in a 10-round fight. Reyes, being (3-3) in his last six bouts, was known for going the 10 round distance in a losing effort to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in 2015. Both fighters agreed a catch-weight for the fight and weighed in at 163 pounds. It was reported that Lemieux would earn $200,000 compared to Reyes who would earn $45,000. Lemieux won the fight by unanimous decision. The judges scored the fight 99-90, 99-90 and 98-91 in his favor. Lemieux landed the harder and cleaner punches throughout the fight. Reyes showed great determination and stayed on his feet landing quick combinations, although receiving a cut above the right eye in round 2. Reyes also lost a point in round 8 for hitting after the bell.

Personal life

Lemieux is a resident of Cartierville, a Montreal suburb. He has a son, Léon from a previous relationship, the mother later left to Moscow. A second child; a daughter who speaks Armenian as her first language, was born through another relationship. Lemieux speaks five languages: French, English, Armenian, Arabic, and Spanish (with French & English being his primary two languages of everyday use).

Lemieux was managed for many years by Group Yvon Michel (GYM). Starting January 2015 he was managed by Camille Estephan, a Lebanese Canadian entrepreneur and promoter and owner of Eye of the Tiger Management (EOTTM).