Lemieux Brutally Finishes Stevens With A Single Shot
By: Sean Crose
New York’s Turning Stone Casino hosted HBOs Boxing After Dark on Saturday, featuring a bout between middleweights (and GGG victims) David Lemieux and Curtis Stevens. First, though, was a ten round lightweight fight between once promising – now essentially part time -slugger Yuriorkis Gamboa (25-1) and Rene Alvarado (24-7). Keeping his distance throughout the first, Alvarado essentially ceded the round to Gamboa.
Round two showed Gamboa to simply be the more seasoned fighter. Sadly, there wasn’t much more to say regarding the first half of the fight other than the fact that Gamboa was dominant. It was a rather stagnant affair.
And it continued to be so throughout. Sure, Gamboa hit the mat in the 10th, but he got right back up. In fact, some things just can’t be sugar coated. The fight was horrible. How horrible? I actually felt bad for HBOs broadcast team. Criticize Lampley, Jones and Kellerman all you want, they had to WORK to come up with things to say for those ten rounds. Needless to say, Gamboa walked away with a unanimous decision win.
After a nice ten bell tribute to the recently deceased Lou Duva, it was time for the main event. Lemieux (36-3) came out jabbing in the first while Stevens (29-5) looked to counter smartly. By round’s end, it was bombs away. Stevens landed hard. Lemieux even harder. Stevens held up, though. Would Lemieux gas? The Canadian began the second like he wasn’t worried about it, slugging away at the Brooklyn native. Stevens, however, took the shots and effectively went to the body.
By the third, Stevens was confident enough to lower his stance. It was a brutal mistake. Stevens was knocked completely unconscious seconds later. It was scary to see. The man was thoroughly asleep on the canvas. Minutes later, he was still on the canvas, completely unconscious. It wasn’t until he was placed on a stretcher that Stevens seemed to be regaining cognizance. It was a disturbing sight. Boxing can be a disturbing sport, but such things never cease to be jarring.
“I told you what I was going to do tonight,” Lemieux said afterwards. “And I did it.”
Indeed.
Talk soon went around to Canelo Alvarez, Billy Joe Saunders, and, yes, GGG (again) as future Lemieux opponents. Still, Max Kellerman wrapped up the broadcast with genuine concern for Stevens. It was the right note to take. Stevens may as well have been hit with a bat.
