N'Dam-Lemieux: Golden Boy Must Deliver Fight By 7/7
Apr 8, 2015 • 11:05 AM ET
By Jake Donovan
In its best efforts to tidy up what has already been a messy situation, the International Boxing Federation (IBF) has issued a hard deadline for which its middleweight title must be filled.
Golden Boy Promotions was the only bidder present during Tuesday's purse bid hearing for the ordered vacant title fight between Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam and David Lemieux. The minimum acceptable bid of $102,000 was enough for Golden Boy to secure the rights to the fight.
“The purse bid split will be 50% to N'Dam and 50% to Lemieux. Golden Boy has 90 days or until July 7, 2015,” confirmed IBF spokesperson Jeanette Salazar, who also noted that a location has yet been secured for the forthcoming bout.
With the two fighters now in place, and a promoter and purse offering attached (the fighters will earn $51,000 each based on the 50/50 purse split), the next step is bringing the fight to reality.
That could prove problematich.
N'Dam was willing to fight for the title beginning with his 12-round points win over Curtis Stevens last October. The fight took place one week before Jermain Taylor dethroned Sam Soliman to become a two-time titist, his previous reign running from 2005-2007 as the World middleweight champion (Miguel Cotto holds such honors these days, stemming from his knockout win over Sergio Martinez, who beat Kelly Pavlik, who snatched the crown from a then-unbeaten Taylor in Sept. '07).
Taylor was permitted to make an optional defense of the title providing he come right back and honor his mandatory. The optional title fight was to come versus Sergio Mora in February, though Taylor was forced to withdraw from the bout and vacate the title after landing in jail for a string of criminal offenses stemming from an incident during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in his hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas.
The latest crimes, in addition to his previous charges from a shooting incident last summer for which he's still due to stand trial, landed Taylor in jail and deep psychiatric evaluation.
Meanwhile, filling the vacant title has proven to be a chore. N'Dam has been on board since day one. The same could not be said for the likes of Billy Joe Saunders (waiting out a shot at the winner of this weekend's WBO title fight between Andy Lee and Peter Quillin) and Felix Sturm (pursuing a super middleweight title fight), both of whom passed on the opportunity to face the former titlist and current top contender.
Lemieux was quick to agree to the title fight, prompting Golden Boy—who signed the knockout artist from Canada to a promotional deal—to do everything within its power to win the purse bid.
That was the easy part, especially when you're the only promoter in the room. More difficult tasks lie ahead, however.
Golden Boy's signing of Lemieux triggered a lawsuit from estranged promoter Yvon Michel's GYM Promotions, who claims to still have paper on the middleweight contender.
Until the issue resolves itself, finding a network to throw its support behind this fight or any other involving Lemieux could be an issue. HBO has expressed an interest in his career, with Lemieux making his network appearance last December with a 10th round stoppage win ove Gabriel Rosado.
The move made sense as HBO is deeply invested in the middleweight division and is in need of establishing viable future options for its crown jewel, unbeaten titlist and rising star Gennady Golovkin. However, the network has yet to commit to throwing its support behind N'Dam-Lemieux and likely will not go public with its full support of any fight involving Lemieux until all legal troubles are resolved.
There's also the concern that N'Dam—initially all the way in for a title fight—could ultimately walk away from the fight. ESPN.com Senior Writer Dan Rafael revealed on Tuesday that N'Dam's promoter, Michael King had previously offered $300,000 for the fight, a purse that was rejected by N'Dam, who earned $40,000 for his win over Stevens (a fight in which King Worldwide Sports won the purse bid).
Should N'Dam decide to pass on the five-figure payday for what is a risky fight—even with a title at stake—IBF rules stipulate that he will be dropped from the mandatory position and the Top 5 altogehter. The next steps for the IBF would be to go back down the list for the next availalbe contender to face Lemieux.
The next highest rated contenders in line are Soliman—who has not fought since losing the title to Taylor last October—and Sergio Mora, the former junior middleweight titlist and boxing reality TV star who edged out Abie Han this past February. The tightly contested—and hotly-disputed—affair was Mora's consolation prize for the title fight with Taylor falling through.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
Jake Donovan is an award-winning journalist who served as senior writer for BoxingScene from 2007-2024, and news editor for the final nine years of his first tour. He was also the lead writer for The Ring before his decision to return home.
