Montreal – August 13, 2022
Montreal’s boxing protégé, David Lemieux, has made the decision to hang up his gloves and leave the sporting world behind him.
At 33, Lemieux (43-5, 36 KO) has accomplished a great deal. Defeating Hassan N’Dam in 2015 to win the the IBF middleweight title. Fought two of the best boxers in the world in title fights, Gennadiy Golovkin and Billy Joe Saunders – with the fight with Saunders taking place in Laval, with the great Tyson Fury in attendance, and although he would lose both bouts, showed a tremendous amount of heart and fire in both.
To Canadian, and especially Montreal-area boxing fans, Lemieux is the pride of the boxing community – but a fighter needs to know when it is time to call it a day.
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In his last bought, Lemieux was soundly beaten by a younger, faster and hungrier fighter named David Benavidez (26-0,23 KO), in an interim WBC super middleweight title fight. Lemieux was rocked early, and sent to the canvas but he never gave up. He fight valiantly, although Benavidez was visibly too much for him. Still, Lemieux gave an incredibly brave performance, never giving up on the fight before it was rightly stopped in round five.
“I’ve accomplished a lot in the course of my career; I achieved my dream of becoming world champion, I’ve given the fans rousing fights by accepting every challenge that came my way. I devoted my life to training, to boxing, and now I want to cherish every minute with my family,” Lemieux said.
“I accomplished a lot, but I didn’t do it alone. I want to take this opportunity to thank all the fans who supported and encouraged me throughout my career. Thank you to the Eye of the Tiger Management team, especially Camille Estephan and Marc Ramsay, two exceptional men.”
“David is the kind of guy that people love because he’s authentic and his heart is big as the province of Quebec,” said Eye of the Tiger Management’s Camille Estephan. “He’s someone who’ll take a challenge head-on, something he’s done throughout his career.
“He has all my respect for what he’s accomplished and even more so today as he retires at the peak of health, instead of clinging to the past. He’s chosen to retire at the right moment and I want to thank him for everything.”
The retirement comes three after the Benavidez fight, and just days after Lemieux’s father, Andre Lemieux, was murdered in a random killing in Montreal.
