David Lemieux vs. Tureano Johnson on Dec.15 in NY

Boxingnews24.com

By Jeff Aranow: Former IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux will be fighting on the undercard of Saul Canelo Alvarez vs. Rocky Fielding on December 15 against 2008 Olympian Tureano Johnson at on DAZN at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Lemieux (40-4, 34 KOs) is hoping that a victory over the ring rusty 34-year-old Johnson (20-2, 14 KOs) will get him a title shot against World Boxing Council 160 lb champion Canelo Alvarez in 2019. Golden Boy Promotions decision to put Lemieux on the undercard of Canelo’s fights is a strong indication that they’re thinking of matching him against the Mexican star. Lemieux, 29, fought on the undercard of Canelo’s last fight against Gennady Golovkin two months ago on September 15, stopping Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan in the 1st round in Las Vegas, Nevada.

This is no sure thing win for Lemieux, considering that Johnson is a very good fighter, who gave Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Curtis Stevens. Johnson lost to both of those guys by knockouts, but they were real wars both of them. Derevyanchenko did better than Stevens in defeating Johnson, but by no means was it an easy win for the the former Ukrainian amateur talent. Johnson has the ability to beat Lemieux if he can withstand his power, and shake off the ring rust. It’ been 15 months since Johnson last fought in losing to Derevyanchenko.

Lemieux’s punching power looked formidible in his 1st round knockout win over O’Sullivan last September. It was a much better performance for the Canadian than in his previous three fights against Karim Achour, Billy Joe Saunders and Marcos Reyes. Lemieux’s conditioning looked much better. He didn’t have the bloated look like he had against those guys. It’s no secret that Lemieux has been battling hard to try and make the 160 lb limit. Unfortunately for the 5’9″ Lemieux, he’s too short to fight at super middleweight, which is probably where he should be competing at given his frame.

This is a risky fight for Lemieux to take on a skilled fighter like Johnson. Things could go badly for Lemieux if he’s unable to land one of his big power shots in the first six rounds. Lemieux tends to gas out in the second half of his fights, and that’s going to be bad news for him if Johnson is still around. There’s a very real possibility that Johnson could take over the fight and score a stoppage over Lemieux in the later rounds.

Lemieux has previous losses to Marco Antonio Rubio, Joachim Alcine, Gennady Golovkin and Billy Joe Saunders.

The Canelo-Fielding undercard is still taking shape. There’s a chance that IBF light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev will defending against Joe Smith Jr. on the card. We’ll have to see if that fight happens.

Here’s the Canelo vs. Fielding card as of today:

– David Lemieux vs. Tureano Johnson

– Tevin Farmer vs. TBA

– Katie Taylor vs. TBA

– Yves Ulysse Jr. vs. TBA

– Ryan Garcia vs. TBA