“Better get out if you haven’t taken too many hits.” With my family, with my life ahead of me, it wasn’t worth risking everything for $50,000 fights that I should have fought before I got another offer for a big fight.
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“It’s a mix of emotions. The thought of retirement, I know what it means as a change in my life. It’s enormous. In my mind I would give up after the Canelo Alvarez duel. But there, after my loss to David Benavidez, I and my team started weighing the pros and cons.
“The Rational told me it was time to retire. Emotions drove me to follow my warrior instincts, to face anyone at any time.
“But I was helped to see the script for what it was. I was already a little 160 pounds. Strong but small. At 168 pounds I’ve dealt with some 200 pound guys. I saw it against Benavidez. He was too strong, too big. I wanted to push him, but he didn’t flinch. He came to me first and after that nothing was possible even though I was ready to move on.
“Actually, it was only in Las Vegas, perhaps due to the dry desert air, that I gained moderately light weight. Otherwise, dropping to 160 pounds was agony. I was made for a 164-pound category…” said Lemieux, smiling for the first time in conversation.
A LONG CONSIDERATION
Our meeting in Daou, his favorite Lebanese restaurant, was supposed to take place last Wednesday. The day before, his biological father was shot dead in a bus shelter by a maniac killer. A week later we got together. The appraisal interview was quickly turned on its head when Lemieux confirmed he would officially announce his retirement on Monday.
It’s no longer the same perspective a man and a 33-year-old athlete have on events. There is a kind of deliverance, a kind of truth that can be said in the answers. The best stories make you laugh. Others touch without a filter. That’s a privilege for a journalist.
Until we get closer to the future. David and Jennifer Abel, his mistress and wife, will open a center with a “smoothie bar”, as is all the rage. But with a ring and boxing gear for those who want to train and acquire specific performances. There will always be room for overly wild children. “And Jennifer will be offering Pilates and stretching sessions. Anything related to good health, Jennifer will offer. Who could be better than this great Olympian,” explained Lemieux.
He is only 33 years old but has fought for a long time. Since the 17th against the toughest. Gabriel Rosado, Glen Tapia, Curtis Stevens, Spike O’Sullivan, Billy Jo Saunders, Hassan N’Dam, David Benavidez, Gennady Golovkin.
Canelo Alvarez is missing. But this time it was his kidneys that gave him away. In NYC.
David tells you all about it…
GREAT MEMORIES OF GREAT STORIES
We chatted for a good hour. By reviving the stories. The fights that David saw in the ring, I saw several of them in the ring. We think we see everything, we know everything. But as Jean Gabin would say, we should know that we know nothing…
Nine years and a cigar
The first story, one of David Lemieux’s fondest memories, is about his discovery of boxing: “I was on the balcony of the house. I was 9 years old. I smoked a big cigar. I fought in the streets all the time. Sometimes against big 15 year old boys. I wasn’t afraid of anyone. Mr Laham, the father of boxer Baha Laham, our neighbor across the street, was concerned when he saw me leave. He was the one who took me to Ring 83, Russ Anber’s gym. It was an instant love for boxing. I walked in there and said to myself: That’s cool. I arrived first and left last. Russ had given me a key to the gym. I was there all the time whenever I could. I was 11 years old when I had my first fight. I lost four in a row before winning sixteen online.
“In school, in the 4th grade, the teacher asked us to write down what we wanted to do in life. I had written to myself that I would be world champion. The teacher asked me, “David, do you have a plan B? ” I said no…
With kind approval
June 2015 at the Bell Center David Lemieux becomes the IBF Middleweight World Champion by defeating Hassan N’Dam. A victory celebrated with Eric Gomez, Marc Ramsay, Virginie Assaly, Oscar de la Hoya, Bernard Hopkins, Luc Vincent Ouellet and Camille Estephan.
“When I became world champion after beating Hassan N’Dam at the Bell Center I went back to my primary school. The teacher was gone, but there were other teachers I knew. I just told them that when I was a little kid, I made my big dream come true. I spoke to the young people at school, I told them to have dreams and make an effort to achieve them…
A PAINFUL BREAKDOWN
“Russ Anber has played an important role in my career. But the breakup wasn’t easy. you know russ He controlled everything. I made the decision it was over just before a trip. We should go to Sergio Martinez’s warehouse in Oxnard, California. Russ decided that we would go there. I was in love with my daughter’s mother. I figured there was no way I was going to spend four days in a tank with three other people talking boxing all the time. I declined. From there I made my decision,” recalls David.
It coincides with his meeting with Camille Estephan. He becomes his manager, his sponsor, his tireless friend, his godfather and, to a certain extent, the head of an extended family.
Marc Ramsay will take care of the rest…
GOLOVKINS SILVER NOTE
In his memories at home, David Lemieux preserved the silver ticket given to him by Madison Square Garden bosses before his fight against Gennady Golovkin.
With kind approval
Before his fight at Madison Square Garden against Gennady Golovkin, David Lemieux received a silver ticket for the fastest-selling, with a Quebecer and a Kazakh.
Sold out the fastest. With a Quebecer and a Kazakh. “I also remember the thousands of Quebecers who came to New York to encourage me. At one point, a hundred of them stood on the corner of 5th Avenue with a pole from which they hung Quebec flags. I stopped the car and greeted them.
“As for the fight, I was preparing for war. Golovkin was brilliant. He used his jab to keep me at bay and boxed very skillfully. Also, at his best, Golovkin is one of the great middleweights in boxing history. The income from the fight was very high. Despite the loss, I’m proud of everything that happened in New York,” said Lemieux.
STEVENS AND BAD INTENTIONS
Courtesy photo
David Lemieux returns to his corner after beating Curtis Stevens in March 2017.
“I’ll fuck him!” ‘ Curtis Stevens explained before the fight in a documentary filmed for Punching Grace. “This arrogant bastard even started GoFundMe to raise money to pay my hospital bills after our fight. I wanted to rip it off. hurt him When I beat him stiff in the third round and we got him out on a stretcher, I felt some satisfaction. Especially since he had regained consciousness.
With kind approval
In Las Vegas, David Lemieux has the K.-O. to Spike Sullivan, whom he called very arrogant.
“I felt the same way with Spike O’Sullivan in Las Vegas. I have nothing against the Irish, but he… he wasn’t good at the gala against Billy Joe Saunders. Before the fight in Vegas he was still in high spirits. I promised myself that he would pay the price for being so sloppy. But at least he was right. Coming to her senses in the ring, the TV journalist asked her what happened: “David Lemieux said he blew my mind. He did it. He did it! ””
TWO POUNDS ON FIVE MILLION
“I’ve had to fight my weight my whole career. My worst moment is in New York. I was in the semifinals of a Canelo fight. The deal was done. If I beat Tureano Johnson, I had my chance. The morning of the weigh-in, I was in such bad shape, so dehydrated, my kidneys were barely functioning. At the hospital, the doctors wondered how I got into this condition. I was heartbroken but as always it was Camille who lifted me up and helped me build my confidence back…
“I had received a first signal. They had to think about going up to 168 pounds. And Benavidez gave me the other signal. I was too small for the 168…
“But I have no regrets. I did what I had to do. I was champion against N’Dam, who became world champion himself again by defeating Ryota Murata in Tokyo. I have fulfilled the dream I had as a child.
“And there the rest of my life awaits me…”