Lemieux, David

David Lemieux was born on December 20, 1988 in the Canadian city of Montreal . The father is a Quebec by nationality, the mother is an Armenian from Lebanon . David was raised by his stepfather - an Armenian, by the name of Melikian. By the recognition of Lemieux himself, he speaks Armenian, and was brought up in Armenian traditions ^{[1] [2]} . In addition to Armenian, Lemieux also speaks French, English, Spanish, and Arabic ^[3] .

Lemieux started boxing at the age of ten. He won the Canadian Amateur Championship three times. At seventeen, David Lemieux would be ready to become professional, but he, in accordance with the requirements of the Canadian federation, had to wait for coming of age.

2007–2010

Lemieux held his first fight in the professional ring on April 14, 2007. From the moment of his debut to February 2010, Lemieux had twenty fights, winning all by knockout. On February 6, 2010, in a battle for the title of champion of Canada at super middleweight, he met with Jason Naugler, whom he won on points. In the same year, on April 10, Lemieux, holding the title defense against Tunisian boxer Walid Smishet, in the second round, knocked him out.

In June 2010, in a battle for the vacant WBC Internationa title ", Lemieux entered the ring against experienced American Elvin Ayala (20-5-1, 9 KOs)^[com] . In the first round, Lemieux, bringing a hail of blows to his opponent, sent him a knockdown three times, after which Ayala was no longer able to continue the fight ^[4] .

On October 29, 2010, David Lemieux defended the title won several months earlier. The rival of the Canadian boxer was Hector Camacho - Jr. (52-4-1, 28 KOs) ^[com] . From the first seconds of the battle Lemieux took the initiative. Already in the middle of the first round, Camacho missed a strong side from the left, after which he moved into a dull defense. Lemieux continued bombing his rival. At the last second of the first round, Camacho misses his right to the head, after which he finds himself in a deep knockout ^[5] .

In December 2010, David Lemieux met with American Purnell Gates (18-2-0, 13 KOs) ^[com] , whom he won by technical knockout already in the second three-minute. After the fight, it was announced that the World Boxing Council decree, Lemieux would have to fight with Marco Antonio Rubio for the status of the official contender for the WBC world middleweight title ^[6] .

Contender fight with Marco Antonio Rubio

On April 8, 2011, David Lemieux met in battle for the right to be a mandatory challenger for the WBC world title with the famous Mexican boxer Marco Antonio Rubio (49-5-1, 41 KOs) ^[com] . Being the favorite of the fight, Lemieux from the first seconds seized the initiative in the ring. During the first five rounds, Rubio mostly defended himself by blocking his opponent’s shots, while Lemieux invested in each hit, intending to knock out his opponent. In the sixth round, Rubio unexpectedly launched an offensive. In the seventh round, Rubio delivered a strong backhand and sent Lemieux in a knockdown. Immediately after that, Rubio attacked his rival with a bunch of punches and the coach Lemieux decided to stop the fight. Having won an unexpected victory, Marco Antonio Rubio became a mandatory contender for the WBC world title, besides, for the Mexican, this success was a jubilee, fiftieth victory. Lemieux suffered his first loss in his career - until that day he had 25 fights, 24 of them were completed ahead of time, 21 fights did not last longer than two rounds ^{[7] [8]} .

Shortly after the battle, it became known that Lemieux and his trainer of Russia Anber decided by mutual agreement to stop cooperation. New coach Lemieux becomes Mark Ramsey ^[9]

Fight with Joachen Alcine

In December 2011, David Lemieux conducted his second defense of the WBC International title. His opponent was an experienced Haitian boxer, former WBA world champion Joachen Alsin (32-2-1) ^[com] . Lemieux, having gone well prepared for the fight, began to put pressure on his rival, but the former world champion Alsin withstood the onslaught. In the second half of the battle, Lemieux noticeably slowed down, which ultimately cost him victory in battle. More experienced Alsin, at the expense of the correctly chosen tactics, led the duel in the right direction. The fight lasted all allotted twelve rounds. Winning a split decision went to Joachen Alsin. The final score of the judges' notes was: 116–112, 116–112, 114–114 ^[10]

After two defeats in a row, puncher-middleweight David Lemieux entered the ring against Haudiel Zepeda (14-5-1, 11 KOs) ^[com] . In the second round, the Canadian sent his opponent to the floor with a forehand kick. Immediately after Cepeda rose, Lemieux again pounced on his opponent and finished the match with the strongest left hook on the body. For Lemieux, this was the 22nd knockout victory in the first two rounds ^[11] .

2012—2014

In October 2012, Lemieux conducted a rating battle against the Mexican Alvaro Gaona (11-1-0, 7 KO) ^[com] . From the very beginning of the battle, Gaon supported the pace proposed by Lemieux and went to the exchange with blows. After a few accurate strikes, but without causing any damage to his opponent, the Mexican paid for his recklessness. At the end of the round, Lemieux sent Gaon to the floor with the strongest left hook, where in a few minutes the doctors had to bring him to his senses. The judge recorded a knockout ^[12] .

December 14, 2012, a rating battle took place between David Lemieux and Albert Hayrapetyan (20-3-0, 9 KO) ^[com] . In the first three minutes, Hayrapetyan visited the ring flooring twice, and in the next round, having missed the most powerful forehand, was knocked down. Despite the fact that Hayrapetyan was able to rise to his feet before the end of the countdown, referee Michael Griffin stopped the fight, fixing David Lemieux's victory by technical knockout in the second round ^[13] .

Championship fight with Hassan N'Dam N'Zhikam

On June 20, 2015, Lemieux, in a battle for the vacant IBF world title , won by the unanimous decision of the Frenchman Hassan N'Dam N'Zhikam .

Unification bout with Gennady Golovkin

On October 17, 2015, a unification bout of middleweight boxers David Lemieux and Gennady Golovkin took place. The battle ended in victory for Gennady Golovkin. In the eighth round, the referee stopped the bout due to the clear advantage of the opponent. This fight was the debut on pay TV for both boxers.

Fight with Glen Tapia

Fight with Curtis Stevens

Champion bout with Billie Joe Saunders

The fight took place on December 16, 2017 in Canada, where the champion Saunders came to the claimant for the title. The Briton confidently spent all 12 rounds, leaving no chance for Lemieux, and the judges unanimously awarded him the victory with the score: 111-117, 110-118, 108-120 ^[14] .

• Russ Anber - 2007–2011
• Mark Ramsey - since 2011

• Intercontinental World Champion WBC ( WBC International ) (2010)
• Canada Champion Middleweight Champion ( Canada Super Middleweight Title ) (2010)
• Intercontinental WBC Youth Intercontinental (2009)
• Canada - Quebec Boxing Council (CQB)
• Light Middleweight Title (2008)
• WBO NABO Middleweight Champion (2016)
• WBO Inter-Continental Middleweight Champion (2017)
• WBC Continental Americas Middleweight Champion (2017 — present )
• Francophone WBC Middleweight Champion (2018 — N )
• WBC International Middleweight Champion (2018 — N )
• IBF World Middleweight Champion (2015)

• World Middleweight Boxing Champions List

• Lemieux, David (English) - statistics of professional fights on BoxRec website