David Lemieux To Face James de la Rosa, March 12 in Montreal

By Jake Donovan

The revolution won't be televised, but David Lemieux is poised to return to the middleweight mix.

Next up for the former titlist is a March 12 clash with James de la Rosa, to take place at Olympia Theatre in Montreal, Canada. News of the bout and location was confirmed to BoxingScene.com by Camille Estephan, Lemieux's manager. 

The bout will not be carried by HBO, by whom the charismatic boxer from Montreal is owed a fight- just not his next one. 

Lemieux (34-3, 31KOs) will fight for the first time since an 8th round knockout loss to top middleweight Gennady Golovkin in their title unification clash last October. The bout took place in front of a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden in New York City, with both fighters making their respective debuts as an HBO Pay-Per-View headlining attraction. 

It was a major risk for the 27-year old single father, who'd just claimed a vacant middleweight title in his previous start - a 12-round nod over Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam in their action-packed war last June. Securing opposition for the fire-breathing Golovkin has been hard to come by, but Lemieux was game for the task in his lone attempted title defense, the loss also ending a nine-fight win streak. 

de la Rosa (23-3, 13KOs) hasn't fought since a 5th round stoppage loss to Hugo Centeno in Dec. '14. The bout came on the same card as Lemieux's stateside debut, when he registered a 10th round TKO win over Gabriel Rosado in the main event at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. 

Prior to loss to Centeno, de la Rosa - a 28-year old former amateur standout based out of Texas - soundly outpointed Alfredo Angulo in a Sept. '14 clash that appeared to put his career back on track. 

With Lemieux's next fight set, it puts to rest the suggestion of his appearing on an upcoming HBO telecast in March.

His name was tentatively attached to a show planned for early-to-mid March that will include a clash between Sadam Ali and Jessie Vargas, which will be for a soon-to-be-vacant welterweight title. The pairing of fights made sense as Ali and Lemieux are both promoted by Golden Boy Promotions. The slot will likely go to another Golden Boy fighter, unbeaten heavyweight Luis Ortiz who is coming off of a sensational 7th round knockout of Bryant Jennings last December, which headlined the final HBO boxing telecast of 2015.

Assuming all goes well on March 12, Lemieux's team will likely cash in the check for an owed HBO fight in his subsequent ring appearance as the goal is to return to the middleweight title picture.

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox