Lemieux’s left hook ‘was a beautiful KO’

VERONA, N.Y. The legendary Bernard Hopkins, he of the sharp tongue and rapier-like wit, put things succinctly in the early hours of Sunday morning after watching David Lemieux’s evisceration of Curtis Stevens.

“Mike Tyson — the young one,” said Hopkins, who boxed for nearly two decades, holding multiple world titles in the middleweight and light-heavyweight divisions.

Hopkins, who only recently retired, is a minority partner with Golden Boy, Lemieux’s co-promoter. So he has a vested interest in his guy’s future. But allegiances or not, it was hard not to come away impressed and in awe of Lemieux’s devastating onepunch knockout of Stevens in the third round Saturday night at the Turning Stone Resort Casino — the main event on HBO’s Boxing After Dark series.

Lemieux, the heavy hitter from Laval, threw an overhand right and then connected with a left hook to Stevens’ jaw as the native of Brownsville, N.Y., was against the ropes. Stevens fell to the canvas, on his back and partway through the ropes, as though he had been shot.

“Joy and relief. Then serious concern. I thought he could be dead,” said Camille Estephan, Lemieux’s Montreal-based copromoter. “He was very badly hurt.”

Clearly unconscious, American referee Charlie Fitch immediately signalled the bout’s conclusion at 1:59. With Stevens’ distraught mother close at hand, he regained consciousness several minutes later, was removed from the ring on a stretcher and taken to an area hospital, where he underwent a CT-scan and was released that same night.

Nobody expected the fight to go 12 rounds, but neither could anyone have envisioned this sudden-end scenario playing out either in less than eight minutes.

“David did say that he wants to make him pay, and he did. We said we wanted to put on a show, and we did,” Estephan said. “To be honest, we expected David to hurt Stevens. It was a beautiful KO.”

The 28-year-old Lemieux, a former International Boxing Federation middleweight champ, won his third consecutive bout and improved to 37-3 with 32 KOs. Stevens, who turned 32 on Friday, is now 29-6, undoubtedly learning a valuable lesson in the process.

There had been much sparring between the two on social media in the weeks prior to the match, threats and counter-threats of what might occur inside the ring. Lemieux felt disrespected, exacting his revenge on his overmatched opponent. But while Lemieux displayed aggression, he never lost his composure — something that might not have occurred years earlier.

“Stop trying to degrade fighters. Humble yourself, or you’ll be humbled,” he said. “I wanted to make an example of him. No fighter deserves to be degraded like that. Fighters work hard. We’re all here to feed our families. We don’t need somebody who’s going to try and degrade you and call you things. It’s trash. Respect your competitor.

“You don’t want to put gas on the fire and make it bigger. Eventually, you’ll get burned.”

Lemieux was the aggressor from the opening bell. While both boxers were busy over the first three minutes, the Quebecer outworked his opponent, who spent too much time against the ropes and was hurt multiple times.

Lemieux came out quickly in the second round, throwing bombs. But he also controlled the pace, leading with his left jab, but also alternating between working Stevens’ head and body.

Stevens scored with a nice counter-punch in the third to Lemieux’s body. He flinched temporarily and it appeared the tide might turn. But Lemieux quickly regained his composure and went for the kill. The left hook that finished Stevens was simply crushing and jaw-dropping.

All three judges had Lemieux winning the opening two rounds. The third would have been scored 10-8, at least, for Lemieux had Stevens survived.

“He started very fast and did everything around the jab, like we planned,” said Marc Ramsay, Lemieux’s trainer. “David’s better when he generates power from long distance, especially with short guys like Stevens.

“We used the jab well. He mixed the jab between the head and body. He mixed it up well and surprised Stevens.”

If Lemieux was not an important part of the conversation in the middleweight division prior to this weekend, he thrust himself back into the mix with this convincing victory. As he reaches the peak of his career, Lemieux’s options appear limitless. There could be a rematch against Gennady Golovkin — whom he lost his title to in his first defence, back in October 2015 — a confrontation with World Boxing Organization champ Billy Joe Saunders, or the bout Estephan really wants, Canelo Alvarez.

“I’m ready. Are they ready? That’s the question,” Lemieux said. “For sure (his performance against Stevens) can create some fear in the division. If (boxers) are too scared, that’s not my problem.”

The ratings generally are always high when Lemieux fights on HBO. Executives at the network love his crowd-pleasing style and it was no coincidence Peter Nelson, the executive vice-president of HBO Sports, was at ringside. HBO ultimately will dictate Lemieux’s future. One thing’s certain: He’s in the driver’s seat.

Meanwhile, Montreal’s Yves Ulysse scored a convincing seventh-round technical knockout against Zachary Ochoa of Brooklyn, N.Y., on the undercard, capturing the vacant junior North American super-lightweight title.

Ulysse, now 13-0 with nine KOs, battered his opponent at will in the seventh round, yet the referee never halted the proceedings. Instead, Ochoa’s corner wouldn’t let him answer the bell for the eighth. He lost for the first time in 17 bouts.

Ulysse accomplished this without his trainer, Rénald Boisvert, who was denied entry into the U.S. at the border. Michel Moffa proved more than an adequate replacement for Boisvert.