By Luke Furman, photo by Hoganphotos

Former IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux (35-3-0, 32 KOs) is still interested in a fight with Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KOs) - as long as there is no catch-weight involved.

Lemieux has to work very hard to make the middleweight limit of 160-pounds.

In March, Lemieux saw a scheduled fight with James De La Rosa fall apart when he came in overweight at the official weighin. The fight was set for a catch-weight of 163. De La Rosa weighed 162, but Lemieux was 165.6.

Earlier this month, Lemieux hit 160 on the nose for his fight with Glen Tapia, which took place on the HBO Pay-Per-View undercard to Canelo's title defense against Amir Khan at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Lemieux was viewed as a potential backup opponent for Canelo - if the Mexican superstar was unable to reach an agreement for a mandatory defense against IBO/WBA/IBF champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs).

Those talks took an unexpected turn last week when Canelo vacated his WBC title and the sanctioning body appointed Golovkin as their new champion.

Lemieux's co-promoter, Camille Estephan of Eye of the Tiger Management, doubts Canelo is looking to face Golovkin next.

"I'm not so sure Canelo wants to take the fight against Golovkin," Estephan told QMI Agency.

Many believe the weight for Canelo-Golovkin is the big issue. Canelo had previously demanded a catch-weight of 155-pounds for a fight with Golovkin, who refused to fight at anything less than 160. Canelo's last five fights have taken place at 155, which is one pound above the junior middleweight limit.

Canelo would face the same issue with Lemieux, who won't go below the division limit of 160. Lemieux's other co-promoter is Golden Boy Promotions, who also work closely with Canelo.

"There is no question whatsoever [that Lemieux will not fight him at] less than 160-pounds," said Estephan.

The Canadian promoter says Lemieux is interested in facing WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders, who himself is very interested in fighting Golovkin in the fall.

"Our plan A is always Saunders," Estephan said. "In our case, we have two reserved dates at the Bell Centre on the 10th and 24th of September. We would like Lemieux to be in action on one of these dates."

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org